Boogeymen IV: Dolorum Ipsum Quia
by Legend Maker
Summary: GAME OVER? YOU FORGET WHO'S PLAYING HERE!
1. Deadly Game

_I do not believe humanity is weak._

_Indeed, I am well versed in the strengths of humanity. I know what human beings can do by instinct, what their deepest parts of their brains tell them to do._

_Human muscles cannot lift vehicles, yet mothers have done so, moving several thousand pound cars to save their children trapped beneath. What they cannot do becomes irrelevant: all that matters is what they MUST do._

_There is strength in that, but far more often, the true strength lies in the defiance of such primitive, outmoded urges._

_The greatest human urge is to survive...yet there are soldiers who have sacrificed themselves by throwing their bodies on grenades so their fellows can survive. Giving up their lives so that others may live._

_There were those who guarded Jewish people during the Holocaust, when doing so was certain death. And many did die when they were found out, but that does not change the fact of what led to their deaths._

_And when firemen go into burning buildings, they are forcing themselves into a hostile environment, in order to preserve the lives of others._

_There is strength in humanity._

_And yet...in their strength, so much weakness blooms._

_The strength of humanity has allowed them to dominate the world, to twist it to their will and their desire. Strength, it seems, often needs obstacles to emerge, to develop. In this world we live in, such obstacles seem to dwindle daily. And in that loss, weakness comes._

_And in weakness comes waste. Such gifts we have, such strength we command, and yet we utilize it poorly, throw it away, abuse it. We are possibly the best of all life there is, and yet so many of us fail._

_They do not have proper perspective._

_There is a Latin expression, 'Memento Mori'. Roughly translated, it means 'Remember you will die'._

_That is the core of such weakness. The prospect of death, and its brother pain, is so far away from so many of these misguided, wasteful fools that they never grasp it. How can people properly use and enjoy life if they does not understand death?_

_I am no exception. I was once weak as well. But when confronted with death, I challenged it and emerged enlightened._

_Many have been my tests, of many who have wasted their life. Many of those have ended in death, as they would have eventually. I have seen many forms of human failing._

_And in that I have been set to a task, to the most complicated game I have ever devised. Strange circumstances have brought it about, and it will be a grave test for all involved. Myself included._

_I am prepared._

_And in that fact, the game is mine..._

* * *

Somewhere in a city, on its lesser walked streets, within a building battered down by neglect and the ages...

The lights were spartan, barely existent, as it illuminated the giant, corroded metal container. Those who have passed train yards have probably seen these constructs, of varying sizes and shapes. This one was not train car sized: it was about half that, its red paint long reduced to a dull ocher, its frame shot through and rampart with rust. But if one took a sledgehammer to its form, one would find that the damage seemed mostly cosmetic, and the construction of the container held up.

The container is not alone though: attached and placed on top of it are a variety of strange mechanical constructs. But what they do will have to wait, as we pass through into the container...

The inside was lit by one solitary, flickering bulb. Part of the wall of the container had been removed and a TV had been set into the carefully removed section, the appliance firmly wedged into the cutout. Another hole was visible in the ceiling, but no light came from it, suggesting an obstacle of some kind blocked its passage. Directly beneath the hole, a large metal key lay on the floor, unfettered by any restraint.

On the floor also lay four jars, scattered around the inside of the bunker container: they appeared to be made of glass, but in reality were made of a far firmer and more powerful plastic: you would have needed a jackhammer to properly crack and break the jars. The bottoms were covered with a potent adhesive that had long dried, sealing the jars to the metal ground. Inside each jar lay a small metal box, placed at the bottom of a dull orangish liquid.

There was a door on one end of the container, but the shadows made it hard to see.

But the shadows did not hide the female figure slumped against the wall, her limp posture suggesting unconsciousness or sleep, her dark hair laying in a tangled curtain over her face. She wore tattered blue pants and a dull black shirt, though she was shoeless, perhaps to allow the leg manacle that was shackled to her left ankle room to do so. The restraint and chain were of a thick, dirty but undamaged metal, a keylock placed into the side of the ankle cuff as the manacle ran into a thick chain that was pooled on the ground, the last link attached to a thick steel ring in the center of the room, the intertwined metals fused together for extra strength.

The TV was above and directly across from the female form.

And it abruptly turned on, loud static hissing into the room and startling the female awake, the hair falling away from her face to reveal the Hispanic features of a somewhat pretty girl, marred by confusion as she looked around.

"...what...what..." She stammered, as if trying to make sense of it all.

As the static cleared.

And it filled the screen, the head of a porcelain/plastic doll, a white face with receded black hair on its head, an overly large Roman nose, slightly puffed cheeks with a red spiral painted on them, and a segmented one-piece jaw with a dimpled chin. It wore a black suit with a red bow tie, its eyes as black as pitch save for blood-red pupils.

And it moved, its head slowly turning a touch as if looking at the girl, as she stared back in sheer horror as the reality of where she was came to her.

"No..." She whimpered.

And the doll spoke, in a deep tone that contained a strange mix of assurance and intended malice.

"Hello Marissa. Or am I addressing Zia? Either way, you have shown disregard for your gift of life."

"NO! NO!" Marissa screamed, as she grabbed the chain and yanked, trying to free herself and failing miserably on both getting it out of the ground and off her ankle. The doll, Billy, kept speaking, completely oblivious to her panic.

"Marissa...you created another to absorb and redirect all the pain and anger yourself rather than do anything to change your life, then when it didn't work, you tried to end it by blowing your brains out. As for Zia, you blamed your hardship on those around you who were unwilling to help. You both decided that your life was others' responsibility. Now, you must prove yourselves worthy of the life you were so willing to throw away."

And Marissa's yells were abruptly silenced as she heard the grating hum of a machine starting up, and she looked up, drawn by the noise...

As the hole in the ceiling began to pour a thick, black liquid into the room, Marissa feeling the heat of the concoction even several feet away. Her eyes spotted the key on the floor, just for a moment, before the liquid landed and covered it. Tar. It was tar. Fresh, hot tar. The thicker, denser kind that tended to be used on road construction.

And Billy, the doll, having paused as the tar started to pour in, spoke once more.

"The keys to your escape and the rest of your life are hidden somewhere in this bunker. Are you willing to accept your suffering and use it to live on...or will you choose to wallow and drown in it? Live or die. Make your choice."

And the TV cut out, leaving nothing but static.

"NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Marissa wailed, as she once again clawed at her leg chain, but it remained as firmly attached as before. She stared at it desperately for a second, and then her eyes snapped towards where the tar was continuing to pour in. The key. It must have been for her restraints. If she didn't...

Marissa got up and crawled across the room, stopping at the expanding puddle of thick, viscous blackness, as she groaned and utterly a wordless lament, and then plunged her hand in.

The mass seemed to suck her arm in, coating her hand and forearm in seething, burning blackness, a shower turned too hot made worse by added mass, as Marissa screamed and tried to find the key, but her fingers lost all comprehension in the painful, foreign material, unable to find anything except more pain, as the tar reached Marissa's knees and pressed against them, as she finally recoiled out of the mess, her arm coated in black, burning guck, the key remaining buried under the continually advancing rain.

Marissa backed up, shaking her arm with a cry, trying to get the heavy, sticky material off, even as it continued to sear her arm, as she finally got up and turned...and saw the door behind her.

She ran for it.

Somehow, she managed not to trip over the jars scattered around the floor between her and the door.

But she forgot the chain in her panic as it brought her up short, badly wrenching her ankle as she tumbled to the ground, thudding down painfully with another scream. She managed to avoid landing on one of the jars or smacking her head on the floor, but that was little comfort to Marissa as pain shot up her leg, her ankle throbbing from the yank she'd given it. Pulling herself up, she found the chain ended just at the edge of the door: she could reach out and touch it but she couldn't go through it.

Not that that really mattered, as Marissa staggered up. The door was chained shut, and heavily so, the whole exit covered in the thick, oily restraints, firmly closed with a giant, reinforced lock. If you didn't have the key, you'd probably need a Jaws of Life to get through it all.

Marissa didn't even have two good hands, but that didn't stop her as she screamed and yanked desperately on the setup, hoping for some miracle. But the chains remained in place, unheeding to her desperate pleas and screams. She wasn't getting out. And even as she futilely assaulted the chains, she realized she was even more trouble then she'd thought. The key the tar had covered...the video had said KEYS. Which meant there was more then one. Which one had the tar covered? The one to her leg chain or the one to the door chain? And where was the other one...

...oh no.

She whirled around, seeing the jars on the floor. With their small metal boxes inside, and uncovered tops. She could guess what that meant. And what it would entail, as she ran over to one and knelt down. She didn't know which was which, but she'd never find out if she didn't get one of them, as she braced herself and thrust her other hand into the unknown liquid.

She hadn't expected it to be hand soap, but even she was completely unprepared for the agony that bloomed in her hand as the acid began to tear into her flesh. The tar had been hot and painful, but this was utterly excruciating, like someone was stabbing every cell in her hand with a rusty razor, as she screamed in pure torment and pulled her hand out, blood blooming from the damage done to her appendage even as the remaining acid continue to eat into her flesh, as she frantically waved her hand and tried to get it off. In doing so she splattered herself with several more droplets, drawing new screams.

Marissa looked at the jar and then at her agonized hand, covered in blood and hissing, bubbling flesh...and then, left with no choice, she turned and thrust her other hand, still covered with cooling tar, into the jar.

The tar provided little shielding, as Marissa screamed again, trying frantically to get her hands on the box, but her tendons and muscles were overwhelmed with stimuli, virtually all of it in the bad category, as she thrashed and tried to grab the metal box...and finally pulled her hand back out, unable to take the pain any more, the box still remaining at the bottom of the now dirty-orange liquid, as Marissa wept from the sheer misery of it all, looking at her bloody, twitching hands.

As her perception briefly flew above the pain, as she turned and looked at the tar, still pouring down and filling the room...a fact that was brutally apparent as the encroaching puddle had almost reached her. She had at most a minute before it had covered the whole floor and left her no place to stand. Oh god her hands felt like they were falling apart and she couldn't even get one box and the door was locked and the key was in the tar and the tar would sear and tear at her feet and legs and eventually her muscles would give out and she'd fall and be lost under its burning mass as it filled her lungs and what had she done to deserve this she was going to die oh god OH GOD OH GOD WHY...

Marissa screamed, a wailing lament that echoed through the container and the warehouse, and fell on dear ears, as the tar kept filling the chamber, the screams echoing unheard as we pass through the container and leave the warehouse, the fading wails following us all the way.

* * *

Elsewhere. Elsewhen.

Maybe once it had been a proud example of its kind. Whatever it had once been, it was clear what the building before us now was: long left to waste and go to seed. Once a hotel, no paying residents had occupied it in at least a few decades. And all nonpaying residents had recently been...forcibly evicted.

And it had been transformed, as we pass through its neglected rooms and halls, the grime and filth left untouched by the modifications. We pass through it all...

And find a room with light, and with several scattered, unconscious forms. All dressed colorfully. All dressed familiar to us.

Most lay on the floor in that room. But in another one, darker and dreary, a blonde haired casually dressed teen was placed on a large, throne-like chair, his arms tied to the chair, his form not wholly covering the menacing holes the chair sported on its main body, holes that suggested nothing good could come from them. And in another adjacent room, a female lay, strapped harshly to a table, the plump, semi-mousy girl firmly tied across the body with powerful straps, over which metal wires laid for an unknown purpose.

And in the room with the group, the lights flickered on, providing little in the way of illumination but serving to begin the revivification process for several of the young people.

As a TV stood there...turning on.

As the same doll appeared.

And spoke.

"Hello Titans. I want to play a game."

* * *

**That Feeling...You Can Only Say What It Is In Latin...**

_**BOOGEYMEN IV: DOLORUM IPSUM QUIA**_

_**It's A Deadly Game**_

* * *

Chapter 1: Deadly Game

"_There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself."_

-Raymond Chandler

_Revenge._

_I know much of revenge. Some people constantly encounter pain in their daily lives. Others encounter malice and deviance. And some encounter a daily circle, perhaps hated, perhaps loved, perhaps simply accepted as a cycle._

_We are of the rare breed that our lives involve all those things. _

_And revenge._

_We have had it sought against us, many times. Some of us have sought it in turn. And there is much of it in our world. Indeed, one of the mightiest entities of the existence we know, a green cloaked wraith of nigh-limitless power, known to most as the Spectre, is tasked in the ways of vengeance and retribution. Beware if you find his eye. Beware even more if he finds you worthy._

_Revenge._

_For some...it's all they have left._

She was lost, consumed in pain and unbridled terror, her mind breaking down under it, shattering apart and condemning her to certain doom.

But while Marissa Mori was helpless in the grips of mortal fear, she was not alone, and the other would have none of it, as Marissa's eyes dulled and the scream faded from her lips.

And then returned as a snarling growl, as Zia became fully aware of the burning pain of the arms, her arms now, as she glared at them, as if expecting her rage to heal the wounds the tar and acid had inflicted.

"You stupid BITCH! You're going to get us both killed! If I could I'd stick your damn face in and FUCK!" Zia snarled as she leaned over and again tried to stick her hand into the jar of acid, and found that even if she was mad beyond belief and defiant in her pain and in the bastard that had stuck her here, it didn't change the fact that the caustic liquid still burned like the devil when she put it in. She screamed in wordless pain and rage as she retracted her hand. That stupid fucking Marissa! She'd fucked up her hands! How the hell was she going to get the boxes in the jars?

_Revenge is cruel. It lies to you. It whispers of comforts and peace if you indulge it. But it is often wrong. Sometimes, it deceives even itself._

_Much has been made of the poisonous nature of revenge. And they are not wrong. Revenge is toxic, often as dangerous to the seeker as it is to the victim._

_At best, it can steel you to the harsh realities of the pain and loss you've suffered._

_And at worse, it will prove worthless and empty._

_In the face of what it has wrought._

If Zia's wrathful glare had any power, she probably could have burned through her chains and herself a way out sheerly through that. But all her gaze had was her eyes...but behind those eyes was a mind of great cunning and strength, not to mention a survival instinct her other side sorely lacked. Once again, she had to do all the work. And once again, her weak, whimpering other had screwed everything up, whether it was a sudden attack of "conscience" (Zia had everything in hand, Titans or no Titans, and then Marissa went and fucked it all up, turning the violence that should have been inflicted on others on herself in some kind of worthless, idiotic penance), or all that had come after that, and now, having badly damaged the hands that were needed to escape.

Well, if all you had was a hammer, everything did begin to take on the resemblance of nails, as Zia looked at the jars. Trying to reach inside them was a losing proposition, especially now, and Zia doubted she could break them in any fashion. That left one way to get the acid out: overturn the jar.

Of course, they were glued to the floor, but that was enough of a nail for her!

And so Zia pulled herself back a bit, her eyes flicking to the ever-expanding pool of tar, coming ever closer, as she laid down on the container's floor and lashed out with her leg, violently kicking the acid jar as hard as she could.

It didn't budge, so she kicked again, and again, and again, screaming the whole time, as she hammered on the side of the accursed container: glue was meant to patch, it wasn't meant to hold up to direct, constant stress, especially in the repeating blow sense, it would give, it would give, it would fucking give oh she was going to FUCKING KILL THAT BASTARD...!

The jar wrenched off the floor, as Zia's blows finally proved too much for the adhesive to overcome, the acid flowing out and spilling across the floor.

Zia snarled her rage once more as her burning hand reached inside the empty jar and yanked the box out, barely able to hold the box for a second before she dropped it, the residual acid traces sending more pain through her hand, pain she did her damnedest to ignore as she grabbed up the box and opened it.

Empty.

"MOTHERFUCK!" Zia bellowed, as she threw the empty box away. Her eyes turned back towards the tar. She had twenty seconds at most before said tar enveloped the area where the jars were, and then it wouldn't have much further to go before it hit the length of her chain.

And so Zia resumed kicking at another jar, picking at random, having no time to puzzle it out. She struck at the jar without any regard to life and limb, specifically limb, as despite her adrenaline flowing at maximum it couldn't quite keep pace with the stress she was putting her leg and foot under...

_There is strength in revenge. There is power._

_But in that power is often delusion, an inability or unwillingness to know where the line is._

_Until it tangles you._

Zia was strangely unaware of her ankle when it initially sprained, as she kicked at the jar she'd picked several more times before it too was wrenched off the ground, spilling the acid out, as Zia shifted and tried to get to her feet in a kneeling position...

As a sheer bolt of agony slammed through her body as her ankle screamed in protest, slamming against Zia's mind like a blackjack against her temple, and before she realized it her control was evaporating, as her consciousness flew screaming back into the murk.

Marissa was dully aware of what had gone on, but her pain was so great she didn't realize what she was neglecting until her peripheral vision caught it: the tar was about to spill into the empty jar and block her access to the box within.

She barely beat it there, the tar searing her already badly damaged hand and drawing another shriek from her as she yanked the box out, as she recoiled away from the tar, the manacle yanking her entrapped ankle even as her free and injured one sent reports every two seconds on how unhappy it was, as Marissa tried to get her skinless dying fingers to work long enough to open the box...

Where a key lay inside.

The pain was too great for Marissa to enjoy her luck, as she fumbled it out and promptly dropped it. The tar had wrapped around the remaining jars now, the acid within beginning to bubble from the heat of the material, as Marissa frantically tried to retrieve the key and get it into the proper slot, her fine movement nearly nonexistent as she emitted a constant low keening whine, oh god what if it wasn't the right key, she had no more time, as she scrambled and the tar began to consume her length of chain...

And then the key was in, and with one quick snap the manacle popped open. The luck pendulum _had_ finally swung her way. She was free.

Though barely better off: trying to stand with two badly injured hands and a terribly sprained ankle was harder then one would expect, but Marissa's brain hadn't run out of adrenaline yet, as she pawed against the side of the wall, leaving smears of blood and tar as she pushed herself up and stumbled away from the black death consuming the floor of her prison.

And Marissa was reminded of the prison aspect of her approaching doom as she slammed into the exit door and was brutally reminded it was locked.

And as Marissa stared in dull horror at the chains, she remembered what she'd seen when this ordeal had begun. The key on the floor.

The first thing the tar had buried.

_There is a reason why revenge is a dish supposedly best served cold. The longer you spend with it, the more important it seems._

_The more it decides who you are._

_The more unending it becomes._

_Until it does end._

_With yours._

"NOOOOOOOOO...!" Marissa wailed, as she turned and yanked at the chains holding the door closed, lost in terror once more. "HELP! HELP ME!"

The chains had no answer for her, and no answer came from elsewhere, as she yanked on the metal lengths with all her strength. But her strength, even in her most desperate hour, was not enough. It never had been.

She was trapped, she was dead...

"LIKE FUCKING HELL!" Zia raged as she clawed her way back up. She wasn't dead yet! And she would be fucking damned if the fucking weakling brought her down!

Twisting around, Zia glared down at the tar. She had a few feet left before it engulfed her feet anyway, why wait?

The burning grip that encircled her foot and ankle as she stepped into the black mass gave a very good argument on that option, as Zia screamed and snarled, but she kept going, the pain in her sprained ankle subsumed by the pain of the burning tar as she shoved her other foot in it, as she dragged herself across the searing hot mass, the pain screaming up her legs as she forced herself through the tar, the morass not only burning her feet but clutching and sucking at it, as if the black guck was alive, like it actively wished her demise.

Zia added it to the list of things that wanted her dead, as she tried to force the pain down with rage, with her bottomless pools of hate, of the furious havoc she would wreck on the ones responsible for this, as she slogged through the burning quagmire towards the waterfall of tar, her only saving grace. It would have been impossible to locate the key otherwise.

Getting it might as well have been impossible anyway though, as Zia looked for a brief second at the challenge laid out before her. What if she couldn't get it? What then? Just lie down and die?

Unless...

But the flitting thought passed Zia, as she looked at where the key lay, the tar ever raining down on it.

In its darkness, she saw her final motivation.

And so her shrieks were of defiance as much as pain, as she thrust herself down onto one knee, the tar engulfing more of her leg as she thrust her tar-covered arm into the base of the waterfall, screaming to the heavens as her fingers tore through the hot, destroying mess, losing all sense of anything but pain, like her hand no longer existed, like the tar was a destroying void...

But sensation did not always match reality, as somehow in all the pain another sensation, that of firmness, reached her mind, as Zia, finding her mental grip falling apart again under the deluge of pain, seized down on it and yanked...

Marissa nearly fell over into the tar as she came back, as she screamed and tried to pull herself up from her semi kneeling position, as she looked down at the glob of black in her right hand...and the barely visible protrusion from it.

She had the key.

And her legs had just about had enough, as pain brutally imposed itself over Marissa's mind again, her muscles spasming. But she had the key! She could get out! Out of this hell! All she had to do was reach the door!

And so Marissa turned, her arms and legs on fire, but all she had to do was take several more steps. The tar was deeper now, reaching further up her legs, but she just had to go through it one last time, as she lurched towards the locked exit, barely catching herself as her injured ankle tried to buckle, the pain thrashing through her, but she had to get out, she had to escape, just a few more steps, just...

The jars.

She'd forgotten about the jars.

As her injured ankle slammed into them, and in one final explosive burst, her whole leg locked up in a cramp.

Even as she kept moving forward.

To Marissa, it almost seemed to happen in slow motion, as her balance shifted, and her gaze was pulled from her freedom down towards her death. In the back of her mind, she realized what had happened. She'd tripped and was falling. Face first.

So close...

She didn't even have time to scream.

Blackness.

Burning, suffocating blackness.

_Revenge._

_In the end, it will consume you._

* * *

Tim Drake loathed being caught flat footed.

He hated it even more when he thought he had a fair chance of preventing it. His mentor had always stressed caution and preparation, of anticipating your enemy's plans and actions and working to counteract them, if not stop them entirely in their tracks. Such learning even had a place in the world Tim Drake lived in, where the laws of physics and everything else were routinely tied in knots and then given a good kick in the rear. It had let his mentor survive dozens upon dozens of situations that would have killed 99.9 percent of any other people, and Tim Drake, aka Robin, had a pretty impressive track record himself.

And yet...

He had history on his side too. He thought he'd known what to look for. What to watch out for. He knew, and his team knew it. And everything had seemingly been fine.

And then Robin found himself on the other end of it anyway. Because that was life's greatest trick. It always found an angle you never expected. It always found something different.

It was always different. On the other end.

And so as Robin found his senses returning, he immediately tried to figure out what had happened, even as the dread possibility loomed in his head. Could it be? Once again...?

And then the TV had spoken, and Robin found himself looking at the doll face on it.

And though he didn't recognize it, he knew.

And in a tiny corner of his mind, he was reminded that in Japanese culture, four was often associated with death.

* * *

Robin did not recognize the doll on the television, but Garfield Logan did, and it chilled him to the bone. His realization was even worse then Robin's, because he knew for certain that somehow, despite their efforts, it had happened again.

And he knew what was coming.

"What in the fuck..." Came a voice. It sounded like Noel's. Oh he was going to hate this. Even more then usual.

"QUIET!" Beast Boy yelled, as his fellow Titans jerked their heads towards him. Most of them looked rather befuddled, but there was a time for talking later. Now, they had to listen.

"TV! LISTEN!" Beast Boy hissed. He picked his timing well. A second after he finished talking, the doll resumed doing so.

"Your team has gained a reputation for throwing yourselves into danger in order to save the innocent and the weak. It begs the question: are you willing to face such danger to save yourselves?" The doll said. It spoke in a deep rumbling tone, and a few Titans recognized the voice was being electronically altered to produce the exact effect.

"Are we stuck in..."

"QUIET!"

"Before you were brought here, you were all injected with a deadly poison. A potent nerve agent, to be precise." The doll said on the screen. The Titans' eyes went wide, save Beast Boy, who had expected something like that. "If you sit and wait, you will all be dead by morning. However, throughout this building, there are tests for each one of you with an antidote as your reward. You're welcome to try to help each other with these tests, but there is only one antidote for each of you, and these tests give no advantage to others... Follow the yellow brick road, and you'll see what I mean."

"Yellow brick road?" Said Tara Markov, who felt like she was dreaming. She was shushed like the rest.

"By now you've realized that several members are missing." The doll on the TV continued. In actuality only Robin had, and he'd done a head count, grimacing as he saw the fresh worry bloom on his teammates' faces as they realized friends and loved ones who they'd fought together with for years were absent, left to unknown fates. "Two are in the rooms adjacent to this one, and the other two are hidden in this hotel. They have their own tests to survive, but if you'd like to help, X marks the spot. These tests will show just how much you are willing to sacrifice to make it out of here alive."

"Sophie? SOPHIE! Can you hear me?!" Nigel Hastings called, his voice booming through the room, as Beast Boy waved frantically for him to be quiet. Fortunately, the doll on the TV didn't have much more to say.

"So Titans. Would you sacrifice your blood? A limb? How about a teammate? You'll have to answer for your choices, Titans. Be prepared. Let the games begin."

And the TV went to static.

And everyone looked to Robin, as he expected.

"...Robin? Has it happened again?" Kory Anders asked. Robin stared back at the green eyes of his long time love interest. She'd always hated these scenarios the most. And yet despite their efforts...

But first things first.

"...okay. Everyone." Robin said firmly. "Status. Can you use your powers?"

"Dude...!" Beast Boy began.

"Not now Gar. This first." Robin said tersely. He'd already done a body check while listening to the television. As he expected, his utility belt was gone. But so was the armored parts of his costume, and every single hidden tool he had in said costume and beyond, including a few simple ones he kept under a false layer of skin on his inner thigh. He tried not to let his irritation show: if the forces behind this were this thorough, then it was likely he already knew the answer to his question. "Powers. Do you still have them?"

"...damn." Beast Boy said, as he tried to turn into an animal and found he couldn't. Likewise, Starfire found her green energy blasts failed to appear when she tried to call them, and she was as grounded as her human lover, her strength also reduced to roughly his level. Terra's geokinesis was sealed off, rocks and dirt staying put no matter how much she willed it...

And when Savior tried to use his powers, he found pain exploding through his body, as he collapsed to his knees. Starfire gasped, and then ran to check on her teammate.

"Noel! Are you all right?"

"Ugh...damn...what the...fuck." Savior hissed. "The poison. A potent NERVE agent. Fuck. Forget sealed powers, even TESTING them hurts like a mother...ugh. I'm fine Star. And real names in the field." Savior said, a little more vicious then Robin would have preferred. But he let it pass: considering how Savior's nervous system based energy powers were apparently reacting to both the sealing and the poison the doll claimed had been injected into them, Robin would probably be cranky too. With Savior as powerless as the rest, Robin turned to the final Titan in the room: the alien Blacktrinian Nigel Hastings, aka Scalpel. Unlike Starfire, Nigel's alien body was naturally very dense: his normal superhuman strength was partly needed to let him move around. The first time this incident had happened, Scalpel's powers being sealed had left him prone and virtually helpless, unable to move his own weight. Not this time: the alien was stalking around without apparent strain, looking for his own lover, the Titan Sophie Matthews, who was not in the room. Robin doubted the fact he could move meant that Scalpel would retain any more of his incredible might. If this occurrence was precise enough to leave him naked (in a sense), then it was precise enough to do that.

"Scalpel..." Robin began.

"I'm fine! SOPHIE!" Scalpel said, as he jerked around...and his eyes seized on the door on the left side of the room. "SOPHIE!"

And as the Titans' watched, Scalpel charged the door, as Beast Boy's eyes went as wide as saucers.

"SCALPEL DON-"

Too late.

The door snapped open at Scalpel's blow...as a low snapping twang hummed in Scalpel's ears, the wire stretched across the doorframe pulling free from the motion, as the trigger it had been holding closed snapped on. A few lights lit up the room, as Sophie Matthews blinked herself wake.

"Wuh..."

And a low rumble sounded beneath her as engines, placed beneath the table she was strapped to and kept out of reach behind dense gridwork cages, sputtered to life, as Scalpel stared in shock at what he had done in his haste, and Sophie became aware of her state of bondage.

And that she could already feel the straps that were laid over her beginning to tighten, as the metal wires laid over the straps began to slowly be drawn into the cages beneath the table, the wires slowly being spooled around a crank, as the machines beneath hummed and went about their task: retract the wires until there was no give left. And anything that was between the wires and that state...

"...you know, it probably doesn't need to be said, and I suspect I'm going to hate the answer even more then I think I will, but I'll say it anyway." Savior said in dull resignation. "_**NOW**_ WHAT?"

* * *

_Revenge...has it come for us once more?_

_The chaos. Formed in fiction. It has challenged us before. We have turned it back. We have tried to prevent it from coming again._

_...yet we failed._

_Does the chaos possess a mind, a mind so vexed it has purposely sought our end?_

_I am Raven. I should know these things._

_And yet I am uncertain._

_Of all but one thing. And I fear that._

_That in the end, this might be the game we finally lose._

* * *

"_We shall not come again. We shall never come back again."_

_-_Thomas Wolfe


	2. A Faint Cold Fear

Chapter 2: A Faint Cold Fear

"_The sky is darkening like a stain; _

_Something is going to fall like rain, _

_And it won't be flowers."_

-W.H Auden

* * *

_Hello._

_My name is John._

_Perhaps you've heard of me by my other name: Jigsaw. A title I never planned to have. The police, in their attempts to understand and stop me, placed it upon me. I suppose I should not be surprised: it is an often repeated aspect of the human race to only see the surface of a message when you are attempting to show them what lies beneath. What they really must see._

_I see many aspects repeated in the human race. I do not care for many._

_That is why I became what I am now. A teacher. In my work will be a chance for clarity, for my test subjects and others. It is a harsh clarity, but a needed one, for so many would rather bury themselves in numbing delusion._

_Perhaps you are wondering what I am doing here. How I came here. And why I have chosen these tests. But much like my subjects, I cannot tell you everything. It would defeat the purpose._

_And perhaps you believe that this is beyond my scope. That I gravely underestimate these subjects of mine. That they will defeat me through the sheer inertia of what they are._

_This is a valid consideration._

_So I ask you this: if you do not know me, do you know what these are?_

* * *

Titan Personal File No #1: Robin

Real Name: Timothy Drake

Powers: Human: Tim Drake possesses no abilities beyond the ones granted by constant, exceptional training. Said training comes from Batman, both in martial arts and detective skills. Also highly skilled in computers and other electronic devices. Robin's costume is made of the finest body armor available, with titanium weave and Kevlar and Nomex fabrics, making it bulletproof and fire resistant, and his utility belt contains Birdarangs, modified Batarangs that can function as projectile weapons or combine to form a sword, various explosive discs in both incendiary and freezing applications, grappling gun and D-Cel jumplines, and other tools including his metal bo staff and it's occasional Escrima fighting sticks and tonfar variations.

Titan Personal File No #2: Starfire

Real Name: Koriand'r (Earth approximation: Kory Anders)

Powers: Natural ability of flight, heightened strength. Tamaranians can naturally absorb solar energy and project it as destructive force beams from their hands and occasionally their eyes; due to being experimented on by aliens Starfire can do this much faster and with greater power and range then an average Tamaranian. Trained to be a warrior. Highly emotional by nature, Starfire is naturally kind and sweet, but quick to anger and fierce in battle.

Titan Personal File No #3: Cyborg

Real Name: Victor Stone

Powers: Cyborg body as per namesake. Body is composed of molybdemun steel, which grants enhanced strength and endurance. Enhanced vision from cybernetic eye, can also interface with any computer system. Body contains an arsenal of weapons and tools, most famous one being the right-handed sonic/concussive cannon. Expert engineer and mechanic.

Titan Personal File No #4: Raven

Real Name: None (Occasionally uses Rachel Roth as an alias)

Powers: Telekinetic and telepathic abilities, mostly the former which manifest in tandem with her 'soul self', a mystical avatar/energy. Empathic abilities allow Raven to heal injuries by absorbing the pain into her body or drain emotions from people or animals, calming them. Adept sorceress, her body and birthright are still not fully known to her and have occasionally manifested in other mystical talents, including precognitive visions and the ability to temporarily freeze time.

Titan Personal File No #5: Beast Boy

Real Name: Garfield "Gar" Logan

Powers: Can take on the form and abilities of any animal he chooses, including extinct and mystical animals. The form of the animal must be accurate though (Beast Boy cannot become a mouse sized bear or a giant fly, for two examples), and Beast Boy does not inherit any special abilities of the mystical animals (he cannot breathe fire if he becomes a dragon, for example). Beast Boy can push his form to break these conditions, though such actions result in murderous strain that pretty much renders Beast Boy useless. Also, swapping forms that have a great variety in size (an ant to a dinosaur) can also cause physical and mental trauma, though intense training has pretty much rendered that occurrence rare.

Titan Personal File No #12: Savior

Real Name: Noel Collins

Power: The Shimmer, A semi-sentient energy derived from a mutated nervous system. Energy can form crude shapes, tools, and is also capable of altering its own density. Can lift a maximum of 7.2 tons. Mutation origin of nervous system also allows the Shimmer to interact with other human nervous systems like a hacker jacking into a computer: Noel can read minds, take knowledge and experiences (for example speaking a language, though he can only mimic such a skill as long as he is connected with the wielder of the skill), erase memories, and activate pain impulses among other abilities. The Shimmer also regenerates nerve tissue, in both its host and others (though it is much easier to regenerate its host's). Energy is also fire, cold, and electricity proof. Weak to blades: When the Shimmer is cut, it sends a jolt of intense agony through Noel, briefly and completely incapacitating him for a few seconds. Noel Collins also possesses a highly developed mind, which is focused mostly on strategies, tactics, and combat situations. Downside: his personal skills are rather sub-par.

Titan Personal File No #27: Gauntlet

Real Name: Robert Candide

Power: Namesake weapon the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is a mystical artifact created by an ancient race known as the Old Ones. The artifact enhances Robert's natural abilities, although only to a certain degree before other powers must be deactivated to accommodate heavier users of power (Ex: Gauntlet cannot lift more then four tons or jump more then 20 feet unless he deactivates other Gauntlet powers). It's main weapon is a yellow energy field similar to the Shimmer, able to form shapes, weapons, shields, or what is needed as long as it is not too complex. While it lacks the Shimmer's range, it also possesses no overt weaknesses (the only way for the energy to be pierced is if Robert BELIEVES it can be pierced by whatever weapon is being used, otherwise it is indestructible).The Gauntlet artifact itself manifests as a ring shape when not in use and expands to cover Rob's entire right arm when in use. The actual Gauntlet armor is also virtually indestructible: only insanely powerful magic can penetrate it.

Titan Personal File No #29: Terra

Real Name: Tara Markov

Powers: Master geokinetic, a specialized form of telekinesis that gives Terra complete mastery of the earth: she can create flying island to ride or moving creatures of stone and soil, generating earthquakes, or calling forth molten lava or mudslides.

Titan Personal File No #66: Scalpel

Real Name: Nigel Hastings (English abbreviation from Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock)

Powers: Alien species known as the Blacktrinians: species was raised on planet with heavy gravity and society bent towards war. Hence by biology Nigel has superstrength, though this strength comes from his species' immense density, the result being that Blacktrinians are very prone to drowning and hence fear water. Though a doctor by training, Nigel possessed some combat that have evolved far beyond what any teacher on his planet would have expected of him through his battles on Earth. Hands and feet have metal permanently welded on them (another Blacktrinian need, as the natural limbs have no skin to cover the muscle and bone), hence giving Nigel natural claws, which he can use in combat or surgery (despite such limbs, Nigel has an immense amount of grace and can easily handle delicate things, like infants). Blacktrinian biology gives Nigel a natural resistance to bladed weapons (in a fashion: you can slice the average Blacktrinian to ribbons and they will survive. Blades will not bounce off them) and a blood that acts similar to napalm, being somewhat corrosive and highly flammable. Weaknesses besides drowning are bullets, which Blacktrinians, having spent eons fighting in close, are vulnerable to to a great degree.

Titan Personal File No #88: Morgue

Real Name: Sophie Mathews

Powers: After accidentally ingesting the mutated blood of a mutant who had in turn ingested some of Kirk Langstrom, alias the Man-Bat's, mutating serum, Sophie gained a freak variation on the Man-Bat's powers: instead of morphing into a giant bat, Sophie could transform part of or her entire body, as well as anyone she was touching, into a flock of bats. The bats have no special powers outside of the natural abilities of bats, and they will reform into whatever position Sophie was in when they come back together. The power also drains Sophie, so she cannot utilize it too many times without risking passing out or worse. The bats also have a unfortunate habit of reforming in the wrong place. Sophie has also been tutored in several combat and survival styles (though said tutoring is nowhere near finished) and usually carries several kinds of gear including tranquilizer firing pistols. Also, she is in far better shape then her size and body type would suggest.

* * *

_There is much useful information here. Perhaps you wonder how I obtained it. Would it surprise you that it came from the very computers of my subjects?_

_They expose themselves in their own files. I cannot fathom the reason, but it has worked to my advantage. Do you understand this test now? Perhaps you do not recognize some of these names, some of these faces, but that is not my lesson to teach. That information lies elsewhere. My lesson is for them._

_I suspect even if they learn what I estimate they will, some will not perceive this for what it is. They will not understand the test._

_But it is a test._

_Perhaps, despite all I know of them, their lives, and this world, their gravest test._

_They call themselves the Titans. Children, giving themselves titles of those who in myth were above gods._

_They believe they have known suffering._

_But what is true for those who have gone before is true for them as well._

* * *

Nigel Hastings never had an easy time of it. Most of humanity shunned him and considered him a monster, and his own race wanted him dead, more or less because he wasn't enough of a monster for them. Oh, he could do monstrous things, he just needed the right trigger...but in Scalpel's eyes, he was often amazed at how people failed to grasp a certain fact.

No matter what he did, fair or foul, human beings always seemed to be able to outdo him. Easily.

Because in front of him was his human girlfriend. Strapped to a table. And beneath her was a machine setup that was turning something inside the table, which in turn was slowly slowly drawing multiple lengths of metal wire into one end of the table and more tightly down across her, only the leather straps that they were laid across keeping them from her. The best case result, if she wasn't freed, was that she would suffocate. The worse case results...well, Nigel had seen _Audition._

"SOPHIE!" He yelled, as he charged into the room. He was vaguely aware of Beast Boy yelling something at him, but he didn't know or care what as he charged across the room and to the table Sophie was strapped on. In the back of his mind, he noted that she wasn't in costume: instead she was dressed in her work suit of her undertaker day job. And why wouldn't she be? She wasn't used to walking around in costume like they were.

"Nigel? What's...happening..." Sophie slurred, still clearly a bit foggy from whatever had knocked the Titans out.

"Hold on! I'll get you out! I promise!" Scalpel snarled, as he grabbed at the length of leather and wire and yanked as hard as he could on it.

Even with the minimum amount of leverage Scalpel could muster on the setup, normally the strap would have snapped like a dry twig, wires included. At strength for what was considered normal to his race, Scalpel could throw SUV's around like toys.

But that wasn't the case here.

Scalpel hadn't been paying too much attention to the TV and Robin's order to assess themselves. He'd been too concerned with finding Sophie. Well, he had, and the reality of what he was operating under came slamming back into him: his powers were sealed. It was a careful sealing (he could walk: the last time this had happened he'd barely been able to move), but it robbed him of any ability to free Sophie by brute force.

"Nigel, what's going on?"

"Damn it!" Scalpel snarled. This wasn't working...

But there was more then one way to skin a cat, and Nigel had one hell of a pair of skinners, which he promptly introduced to the wires as he laid his right claw down on them and began sawing it back and forth rapidly.

He was vaguely aware that his fellows had entered the room, but he was too focused to confirm details, as he hissed under his breath and continued to cut furiously at the metal wires. This didn't make sense! Even at human strength, his claws were laser sharpened! The wires should have given under the stress...

...unless...

Scalpel pulled back and looked at his hands.

...no. It was hard to see in the dim light, but as a doctor Scalpel was intimately familiar with his own hands and the natural claws they were in. And he could tell that virtually all the sharpness had been stripped from them. They were better blades then a butter knife, but for the task at hand they were insignificant.

Just like his strength.

They'd stripped him of his greatest tools, and then put the love of his life in a horrendous death trap.

Right.

Nigel was the monster here.

* * *

A lot of people didn't like Noel Collins. They had their reasons. And Noel had his: he'd been the first to join the Titans, years ago, long before several more official and dozens of temporary and honorary teenage and young adult metahumans had joined the ranks. He'd been through a lot, and changed a lot because of it. Not all of the changes were good. He acknowledged it and tried to work on it. He didn't always succeed.

But the fact remained that some of the things that made others dislike him worked for him, and so he kept them.

He considered Nigel Hastings a friend. He understood Sophie's life was at risk. His own significant other, Raven, was missing, and it concerned him.

But the fact remained that the Titans were in a situation of unknown danger variables. Beast Boy seemed to have the best idea of what was going on, but Savior had seen things he himself had recognized, an ice-cold realization that it was happening all over again. Despite all their efforts, it just kept happening. Was it just them again? Were other people trapped in the grip of what had spewed out and been laid over reality? And was it just what he had seen, or was this just the first step to another terrible night?

Noel didn't know, and in that fear coursed through him. A faint cold fear. Thrilling in his veins.

_**But...**_the fact remained that despite all these things, caution was needed. Who knew just what, and how much, was rigged here, all waiting for some unwitting or panicking person to trip over it, or set it off. It was clear the night was going to be miserable, and Savior wanted limits.

And so he'd followed Nigel into the room, anticipating Robin's order before he gave it. But he didn't help the alien. He couldn't, not yet. He had to help the others, make sure there wasn't some secondary switch concealed somewhere they could accidentally activate and make things worse. Once he confirmed that, he could move to further tasks.

Some people might have found it cold, and condemned him for it. Noel stood by his choices. He always did.

Besides, he was better off doing it than some people...

* * *

One of whom was finally waking up.

"Ughhhhhh...just what did we spice that...popcorn...with..." Robert Candide trailed off, as he realized he was in an unfamiliar place. That he didn't know how he got there. And worse, he was tied up.

"...okay, don't panic. This is clearly a traditional All Saint's Day prank!" Gauntlet said, as he blinked a few times and looked around the room, taking in what he could in the virtually nonexistent light. He could tell that wherever he was was a dump though: the smell, if anything, gave that away.

"And now, whoever has me tied up will come in and let me go, for the traditional All Saints Day sugar binge!" Gauntlet said again, even as he shifted, noting his restraints. He was shackled twice on each arm: one band of metal was laid over each of his wrists and attached to the throne-chair he sat in, and another pair was looped just above the crook of each of his elbows, firmly locking his arms to the chair. His legs and torso were free, but that didn't allow him much movement or leverage. Nor was the chair comfortable: Rob could feel the holes in the seat and back of the chair pressing into his flesh.

"...okay, that's a stretch even for me. Well, time to power up and...I can't...EVERY FREAKING HALLOWEEN! GOD!" Gauntlet cursed, as he reached out to his magical artifact that was currently in the form of a ring on his right hand and ordered it to expand and grant him his powers. Except, of course, his powers didn't come, and Gauntlet knew immediately why. As he'd said, this was a somewhat recurring theme.

"...Okay then. Fine. So what movie is it this time... Krueger wouldn't be making my dreamscape look like this... I don't know if Myers has enough manual dexterity for this...and Jason Voorhees wouldn't bother tying me up. Then again, I haven't showered naked after splitting up with my blonde girlfriend with whom I just had intercourse, so I might not be his target." Gauntlet said, as he shifted some more, trying to see how much give he had. It wasn't much. "Fignuts. I wish I'd paid more attention to Robin's escape classes...now...movie...uh, it all _seems_ familiar..." Gauntlet said as he looked around the room again, and finally noticed that the minimal light in the room was coming from the cracks through the door in front of him.

"Hey, can I get some more light in here?"

Be careful what you ask for.

As the door suddenly creaked as it opened, just a touch.

And Gauntlet heard a snapping noise as the wire laid across the door was pulled free, and the lights in the room turned on, blinding Gauntlet despite their average intensity. But Gauntlet didn't need eyes to feel the throne he sat on beneath him began to hum, as machinery within activated.

"Oh way to walk right into that one, Candide."

* * *

A few moments earlier, Robin had been attempting his own assessment of the situation. All right, so they were powerless and in a clearly hostile environment with a host that wanted to play games. And considering the time and circumstances, Robin had a feeling he knew what it was connected to.

But until he had more information, he'd have to keep it basic. It helped when he had teammates who understood him well, as Savior had anticipated his order to go in after Scalpel.

The snarl came when Beast Boy tried to immediately follow him.

"Gar, wait! We need to sweep the room first!"

"No! That's not how it goes!"

"What?" Robin said. "What do you mean?"

"The game, it...no time!" Beast Boy said, as he frantically charged into the room after Savior. Which made his girlfriend Terra panic and charge in after Beast Boy. And if Robin hadn't blocked her with his arm, Starfire probably would have gone in right after them.

"But Robin..."

"Just for the moment Kory." Robin said, as he sprinted the few steps over to the door, looking into the room.

Chaos. The room held one of their missing teammates, Sophie, who appeared to be tied to a table. The area beneath the traditional mortician's slab (the irony, Robin mused in a crack in his brain) was caged off, some kind of engines beneath them. Scalpel was currently whaling away on the cage and getting nowhere with it. The other three were grouped together nearby, Terra staring at the scene occurring before her while Savior and Beast Boy argued. Clearly Noel was displeased Beast Boy had charged in after them before he'd given the signal (figures: only Noel could express concern about his teammates' lives and come off as a jerk about it).

"Guys!" Robin snapped, drawing everyone's attention save Nigel and Sophie's. "What's..."

"Robin, do you trust me?" Beast Boy suddenly interrupted.

"What?"

"DO YOU TRUST ME?"

"Yes Gar..."

"Then please, do as I say for the moment! We're good here! You have to check the other doors! Be careful, but check the other doors! There might be something behind them!" Beast Boy said. There was a strange conviction in his voice, and Robin knew that sometimes leaders had to follow.

"All right. Listen to him everyone. Call me if needed." Robin said as he turned around and went back into the room the Titans had woken up in.

"Gar really what if there _were_ traps..." Savior tried saying.

"There wouldn't be. It's not his style." Beast Boy said.

"Who's HE?" Scalpel snapped.

"No time! We have to find...AHA!" Beast Boy said, as he ran over to Sophie's table, having spotted something that neither Scalpel or Noel had, their attentions focused elsewhere. On Sophie's stomach between two of the straps was a black tape recorder and small audio cassette, a rather old fashioned piece of electronics in the days of CD's and MP4's. "This has the answer!"

"It does?" Terra said.

"Like I said. It's about his style." Beast Boy replied.

Robin, meanwhile, had gone back into the initial room: a few brief words with Starfire had her watching his back. It said something about how much she trusted him that she followed without questioning: Kory Anders was the type who cared, a lot, and such empathy could lead to paralysis when one was uncertain what to do and one's friends were at risk. But she'd listened to him, believing without question that she didn't have to go into the room his other teammates were in despite the racket coming from there, solely on his hearsay.

Robin would crawl through every single level of hell and go back for seconds before he ever abused a trust like that.

And he needed it, as he checked the other doors. She might see something he didn't, and that was always a possibility. He may have been "The Scion of the Bat", as Noel liked to call him, but he was still human.

The first door he checked was locked. Robin abandoned it quickly: he figured he was operating under a time limit and he wasn't going to fiddle until he knew what the other door was like. Said other door was directly opposite Sophie's room.

It was not locked.

Robin had been cautious, trying to open the door as carefully as possible.

His caution was wasted: he'd barely opened the door the slightest crack before he heard the wire snap off and trigger. Damn it. He'd hoped the wires would have more slack then that, but it was clear that at least these two doors were set with such little give that even if Robin had had his utility belt tools he likely wouldn't have been able to disable the wire. With the cat out of the bag, Robin carefully pushed the door open and took in what lay beyond.

And there he found Gauntlet, strapped to a throne-like chair in the middle of another filthy, neglected room, old rotten papers, remnants of furniture, and worse scattered around the place, as Gauntlet tried to blink sight back into his eyes from his abrupt blinding.

"Robert! Are you okay?" Starfire said as she dashed over.

"Well, aside from spending my All Saint's Day in a dingy room, I'm not too bad." Gauntlet commented.

"Good to know." Robin said, as he quickly walked over to Gauntlet. With the lights on, Robin's quick assessment of the room had swiftly spotted it: there was a tape recorder lying at Gauntlet's feet. It had been in his lap at first: he'd shaken it off in his initial movement, his senses still a bit dull at the time and hence not noticing it.

Robin picked it up, giving it a quick once over. The tape was already in the machine, and as Robin tried to locate the play button, Gauntlet himself looked at the tape recorder.

"...oh no. Oh no. If it says 'Let's play a game...'"

Robin turned on the tape recorder. After a moment, a voice began to speak. The same voice that had come from the doll on the TV.

"Hello Gauntlet. Unlike most of the others, you have shown clear appreciation for your life. However, you've never been confronted with a choice between yourself and something you hold dear. Just how far are you willing to go to ensure your own survival?" The tape said. "The chair you've been bound to has several holes in each panel. After four minutes, metal spikes will impale you if you cannot escape. The key is somewhere in these rooms, and it's your desire to survive that will determine if you will be able to use it to escape in time. There are other options of course...like the button within your hand. Press it, and you are free...but the cost of pressing it will be anything but. How much are you willing to sacrifice to survive? Make your choice."

And the tape clicked to an end.

"...close enough?" Robin said grimly.

"...wonderful. It's Halloween. And time for _Saw._" Gauntlet said with rare bitterness. "I miss Freddy."

* * *

Playing the tape in the other room proved to take a little longer, as Beast Boy wanted quiet when he did so and Scalpel, to say the least, in a bit of a mood. By the time Noel and Tara had managed to calm him down enough so that they could actually heard the tape clearly, Robin was already playing Gauntlet's tape in the other room. The same voice came from the one in Sophie's room.

"Hello, Morgue. As a recently joined member of this group of Titans, you've experienced little conflict and haven't been faced with a life or death choice. Now is your chance to make one. The restraints that hold you to the table you are strapped to have high-tensile wires laid over them, which have already begun to tighten and will continue to do so until they cut through the straps, and what lays beyond. You can escape with a key hidden somewhere in these rooms. If you cannot get this key, you have only one other option to survive: The trigger in your left hand will stop your trap, but it will activate the trap of your teammate in the next room. Life is full of difficult choices, Miss Mathews. Now you must choose if your life is worth another's. You had better hurry."

And Beast Boy, despite himself, found himself surprised as everyone looked at him intently. Like he had all the answers.

In a way, he did. He was pretty sure he and his friend Cyborg were the only ones to have seen all of the _Saw_ films: maybe his fellows had caught the first one or snippets of the others, but he and Cyborg, as far as he knew, were the only ones to have seen each one, repeatedly. Some people might have thought that spoke of unpleasant possibilities, but anyone who knew them knew that wasn't true. Cyborg watched them for the logistical aspect of the traps and tests, and Gar himself appreciated the character work of the main actor of the series, Tobin Bell. They didn't watch them for what people generally knew the series for: their graphic, vicious death traps that innocents (usually, in some senses) found themselves in.

Really, that was one of the mistakes a lot of people made. Yes, the films were very violent and disturbing. But so was _The Wild Bunch_, and that (despite what John Wayne had said at the time) was now considered a classic Western. So was _Schindler's List_ and _Saving Private Ryan,_ and those films had won Oscars. Hell, one of the main contenders for the greatest film of all time was _The Godfather_, and that (no matter how much they tried to dress it up) was about a bunch of criminals murdering each other and doing generally morally reprehensible things. Beast Boy wouldn't put the _Saw_ films in with those ones, but there was more to them then people in terrible death traps. That aspect was just a means to the end of the film, which was really about Jigsaw's viewpoints on life and living.

That was why Beast Boy had known there wouldn't be any more traps or whatnot in Sophie's room: Jigsaw was capable of deceit, but as the part of a larger scheme rather then deceit for the sake of pettiness. Putting extra traps in the room served no purpose: the purpose was on the tape. It was Jigsaw's lessons that made the _Saw_ films more then just gory setpieces for nihilists and death fetishists (and strangely, the level of gore in the films was about on par with the average action movie these days until the 3rd one). But of course, a lot of people couldn't see beyond that. The masses of films that had been made as a knockoff of _Saw_ certainly hadn't: all they took was the barbaric cruelty that the traps inflicted and utilized that as the whole point. If Beast Boy had realized they were trapped in _Hostel_, or _Turistas, _or _Captivity,_ or one of those direct to DVD messes with titles like _Are You Scared_ or _Live Feed_, he would have been concerned but confident in his and his friends' ability, powers or no powers, to make it out.

This...not so much.

* * *

"Man, this torture porn stuff isn't much fun on the receiving end." Gauntlet said as Robin and Starfire looked over the chair he was trapped in.

"No it's not." Robin replied tensely.

"At least no one's trying to make it appear to have some kind of merit though. That would really be annoying."

* * *

However, that musing was not an answer his friends needed to hear at the moment. God, what to do, he wasn't good at this. Beast Boy clutched his head with his right hand, wincing at the motion: his back hurt. And his shoulder hurt. And he had a headache. And an answer no one wanted to hear...

"...guys? Getting hard to breathe..." Sophie rasped.

But Beast Boy did have other answers, even if it took him a few seconds to spit them out. Sophie's words helped.

"...gah! Terra! Other room! Tell Robin and whoever not to press the switch in their hands! HURRY!" Beast Boy yelled. Terra stared in shock for a few seconds before she rabbited, as Beast Boy looked back at the situation. He didn't need Sophie to tell him she was running out of room: the way the wires were pressing into the leather was obvious. Gah, what to do...

"Beast Boy, you know how he acts. What should we listen to? What had merit?" Savior said.

"Right! Merit merit...yellow brick road! Look for yellow...help your friends x marks the spot! LOOK FOR X'S! AND ANYTHING YELLOW! THERE'LL BE A KEY!" Beast Boy yelled as he began frantically look around the room. Savior did likewise, though Scalpel stood and stared helplessly down at Sophie.

"What are you waiting for a written invitation? FIND THE KEY!" Sophie gasped, and Scalpel nodded and began scrambling around the room, hunting furiously for a way to help his girlfriend.

* * *

"...hey guys? There's a switch in my left hand." Gauntlet said.

"What?"

"There's a switch. I just realized it. How ironic. I have my own ticket out the whole time. My own..."

"DON'T PRESS THE SWITCH!" Terra yelled as she ran into the room. "NO SWITCH! NO SWITCH!"

"Um, okay, if you're that adamant about it." Rob said.

"Terra? What is it?" Robin said.

"Switch...Rob's hand...don't press..." Terra said as she tried to get her breath back. "It'll set off Sophie's trap, it'll kill her...oh. Hi Rob. How you doing?"

"Swimmingly! As you know, I often voluntarily place myself in elaborate deathtraps in abandoned warehouses! _Saw_ reenactment is my life. Next week me and the others in the Saw Reenactment Society of Jump City are doing _Saw 6: Revenge of the Mushroom People!_"

"I think we're in a hotel actually." Robin said as he stood up from his kneeling. "You acquired more information Terra?"

"Uh, B just said run over and don't press the switch, Sophie has one in her hand as well that would set off Rob's trap..."

"Ah, a moral conundrum worthy of the Greek philosophers. To save yourself, or to dither around and have you both die? From a strictly utilitarian standpoint..." Gauntlet began before Robin clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Don't have her press it."

"Yeah." Terra replied.

"Anything else?"

"TERRA! WE NEED KEYS! LOOK FOR X'S! AND ANYTHING YELLOW!" Savior yelled across from the other room. Terra looked behind her and then back at Robin.

"I heard. Check the room we woke up in! Starfire, check in here with me! We're looking for X's or anything yellow! We have...three minutes and 34 seconds!" Robin said as he took his hand off Gauntlet's mouth.

"Right. I'll just hang around." Gauntlet said.

"Robin, the shackles on his wrist have been fused shut and fused to the throne. With his upper arms restrained like that we'd need a blowtorch or superhuman strength to get his wrists free. But his upper arm shackles have not been altered: I suspect that is what the key releases." Starfire informed Robin as she began checking over the throne and a rather nervous Gauntlet. Starfire noticed it. "Do not fear my friend. You will not die in this chair."

"Any other day of the year, you wouldn't have to remind me."

* * *

"Find anything?" Scalpel yelled.

"No!" Savior yelled back. Well, that wasn't wholly true: he'd found where the key the tape had spoken of would go. There was a keyhole at the top right hand corner of the table: Savior had observed that the metal wires were only being drawn into the table on one side: the other side just had the other ends of the straps and wires. When they acquired the key, Savior assumed it would release that part of the table, and Sophie would be free. And it would be when: Savior wasn't accepting any other possibilities.

"WHERE THE _BEWUKI_ IS IT!" Scalpel snarled, almost climbing the walls in his hunt.

Terra, meanwhile, was looking through the middle room and having no luck either. The room had no furniture besides a old, long broken wooden chair, the TV that had left the message for them (there was a built in VCR) and the stand it was placed on. Besides that, there was nothing except various pieces of garbage left there by others who had had little fortune in their lives (though they had more luck then the Titans at the moment).

But nothing, no X's or yellow markings. She'd checked the walls, the floor, the ceiling, under the TV, the TV itself, the stand, the broken chair, and even pushed aside some rather unpleasant rotting material. Nothing.

"Fuck, I feel like I'm playing one of those stupid escape the room flash games where you have to fucking pixel hunt and DAMN!" Terra said as her latest efforts turned up nothing. Where else was left?

"Find anything?" Scalpel said as he bounded into the room. Terra didn't think she'd ever seen the alien so panicked.

"Nothing! I looked...where else...TV?" Terra said, as her eyes fell on the old TV/VCR that she'd looked over and then tossed on the floor. "Uh, TV?"

Scalpel had ripped the television apart several seconds later, but he and Terra's combing through the remains turned up nothing.

"Find anything?" Robin asked, sticking his head through the door.

"No! You?"

"No. Keep looking." Robin said as he went back into his room. As if he'd timed it, Beast Boy then stuck his head out of his door.

"Find anyt-"

"NO!" Scalpel bellowed as he turned away from the ruined television and pushed past Beast Boy to return to Sophie's room. Beast Boy winced as the rough passage caused pain to stab through his back and shoulder again, as he turned back towards Sophie's room, sweat beading on his face.

"This doesn't make any sense. Jigsaw's answers are hard but not in this fashion, what are we missing...yellow brick road, X marks the spot..." Beast Boy babbled to himself, vaguely aware Terra was coming up behind him.

Terra was equally at a loss. She was no genius, but surely they should have found something...

"He hides things so they'll be hard to get, where would he do that if...X marks the spot..." Beast Boy said.

And Terra saw it.

"...Gar?" Terra said. "Don't turn around."

"What?" Beast Boy said, as Terra walked up and opened up the cut she'd seen on the back of Beast Boy's uniform, hoping she hadn't seen what she thought she saw.

It was. Two lines of metal stitches laid over the back of Beast Boy's right shoulder. Crossed in an X.

"Huh?" Beast Boy said, as Terra put her fingers on where his shoulder had been bothering him, as she felt the lump beneath her touch.

"...it's in you."

* * *

"Hey guys, not to sound less than confident in your item searching abilities...but Robin, I know you've never finished an adventure game without going to Gamefaqs." Gauntlet commented to his two fellow Titans as they tried to help.

"Believe me Robert, it's just as pressing a concern to us." Robin replied, as he once again went over Gauntlet's throne.

"Robin, do you think he would lie to us? Send us on the pursuit of the wild goose?" Starfire asked.

"Why bother? You may as well just set off the trap immediately. Or shoot us. Claiming there's a solution when there isn't, it's..."

"Insane? Oh, like someone who, I don't know, locks people in terrible death traps for kicks?" Gauntlet complained. "Whatever happened to sharks? Sharks were scary. And they have the added bonus of only being powerful in the water, like submarines or Aquaman."

"You should see some of the manga Raven owns." Robin muttered.

"Oh come on, _Codename Sailor V_ wasn't that ba-"

"We have a problem." Savior interrupted, entering the room. "We found the key. It's in Beast Boy's shoulder."

"What?" Robin and Gauntlet said roughly in unison.

"Put there beforehand, surgically." Savior said. "...Robin, please tell me you have SOME kind of remaining tools."

"And maybe some anesthetic?" Gauntlet offered.

"I don't. They stripped me. Entirely."

"So then, any makeshift surgical implements around that don't look like 90 Tetanus?" Gauntlet offered.

"No Rob. Fuck. Starfire, you didn't happen to start carrying any secrets of your own, did you?"

"Regretfully no. If I'd known..."

"Hey, Noel, you act like the emergency backup Robin half the time. Do YOU have anything hidden on your person?" Gauntlet asked.

"Gauntlet don't you think...I...I...damn it. Hang on, I'll get back to you!" Savior said as he turned around and left the doorway, pulling off his jacket in the process and hoping against hope. Robin expected a parting comment from his teammate and was rather surprised when he didn't make one. A quick listen to what appeared to be muttered prayers confirmed why.

"...Robin." Starfire said. "If the key is in Beast Boy's shoulder, then maybe..."

"...oh damn it. Sorry for the invasion of privacy Rob!" Robin said as he went over and began searching Gauntlet's body, pulling his shirt around as he tried to locate anything hidden, as Starfire ran to the doorway to observe Noel's attempts to see if any of his own hidden tools had been left untouched.

"Y'know, if you wanted to get to first base Tim, we...oh no." Gauntlet said. From this angle, he could see it.

"What?" Robin said, and Gauntlet pointed, as Robin followed the point...and the faint trace of metal that disappeared up her short skirt.

"...oh no." Robin echoed. Feeling their gaze, Starfire looked back at them, then followed their eyes, as she reached down and felt the crossed lines on her upper thigh, and the slight bulge beneath them.

"...oh." Starfire said. "I was wondering why my leg was paining me."

* * *

"What do we do?" Terra asked, her eyes wide and panicked.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast!" Sophie gasped. Terra's panic was mirrored in Scalpel's eyes. He could see how much the wires had cut into the straps: they didn't have much give left.

"...Nigel, your hands?" Beast Boy said, almost in a daze. They'd stuck the key in his shoulder. Well, maybe that was better then behind his eye, or a giant chain link implanted in his jaw...but not by much.

"Whatever set this up dulled them! I have some cutting ability but about a fifteenth I'd normally have!" Scalpel snarled back, angry at whoever had done this to them rather then Beast Boy.

"Oh, well...uh. Good? There's some?" Beast Boy offered.

"We are shit out of luck." Savior said as he re-entered the room. Apparently his jacket had been cleaned out as well, as he was pulling it back on as he came in. "Robin's stripped. Completely. And so am I. There's nothing we can use in any of these rooms either. Terra, are you SURE the key is in there?"

"I felt it." Terra replied. Savior looked grimly at Beast Boy, then Sophie, then Scalpel, then Beast Boy, and then back to Scalpel.

"...Nigel, I'll hold him down."

* * *

For all his efforts, Gauntlet had always maintained some leftover crush-esque lust for his alien teammate, and normally he wouldn't have minded accidentally getting an innocent peek at her underwear.

Considering that the peek was getting was from Robin pulling her skirt up to study the metal stitches laced into her leg, beneath which lay the key to getting himself out, he wondered if he'd ever be able to get his little guilty thrills ever again.

"Can you get it out?" Starfire asked quietly.

"With my bare hands? Forget it. And...dammit." Robin said as he studied the surgically sealed area. Their two species had differences (like nine stomachs, Tamaranians had to wring every single iota of nutrients from their food that they could), but Tamaranian circulatory systems were roughly the same as humans. Which might mean...

"...what about Scalpel? He is a doctor and has the clawed hands..."

And then the screaming began drifting through the door. It wasn't Sophie though. This scream was male.

"...I'm afraid he might be occupied." Robin said grimly.

* * *

"No! What are you doing?" Terra yelled as Savior and Scalpel wrestled their green teammate down to the ground. Beast Boy was in pretty good shape, but without any powers Noel and Nigel were still bigger and stronger then he was. And it wasn't like the rational part of his brain wanted to resist: a teammate's life was at stake. The IRRATIONAL part though, it had a few complaints with what his teammates were being forced to do.

"The key's in his shoulder. We're getting it out." Savior said as he planted his left foot on the small of Beast Boy's back while he pressed him to the ground by his shoulders. "You have enough light Scalpel?"

"Not really but I'll make do." Scalpel said coldly: like Noel he was shutting off his caring side, the one that would die for his friends, and going onto pure emotionless logic.

"NO! STOP IT!"

"TERRA!" Savior snapped, pointing at her as she approached in a fashion that suggested she was going to try and stop them. "He has the key! If we don't get it out, Sophie dies! I know you and her don't get along, but now is NOT THE TIME! So either find a way around this stupid power seal, give Beast Boy support, or GET OUT OF OUR FACES." Savior growled. Terra stared helplessly.

"...he's right..." Beast Boy grunted. "Have to...help Sophie..."

"But Gar..."

"Auahhhhhhhhhh..." Sophie moaned: she could barely move her chest, and could feel the wires through the leather, almost upon her tender flesh, which was far less toughened then the carefully prepared cow skin...

Terra looked back and forth helplessly, and then knelt down and took Beast Boy's hand.

"I'm here!"

"I know." He replied.

"Brace yourself Garfield. It's just beneath the skin so I won't have to cut any muscle, but it's still going to be bad." Scalpel said.

"Wait!" Terra said. "How do we even know if it's SOPHIE'S key in here?"

"We don't." Savior replied with deep bitterness.

"Only route we have." Scalpel said. "Okay Gar, get ready. Here we go."

"Hey, I've been stabbed in the gut, how bad could it-EYEEEEEAHHHHHHHHHH!!" Beast Boy screamed as Scalpel began sawing through the metal stitches, ripping through the closed wound as carefully as he could, but with the timeframe and his dulled claws he might as well have been hacking at it with an axe. Terra clutched Beast Boy's hand even as she winced and turned her head away, as Noel held down his thrashing teammate and tried to keep him still enough so Nigel could do his work.

And Beast Boy screamed. And screamed. And screamed.

"What the hell is going on?" Robin yelled as he ran into the room.

"We have to get the key out! We don't have any other way!" Savior hissed, his teeth clenched from his role in the makeshift surgery. "We're doing our best but Scalpel's fucking claws were dulled by whatever did this fucking thing! It's like trying to use a damn letter opener!"

"AUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Beast Boy screamed, as blood sprayed up from the wound, splattering on Scalpel and Savior: Noel grimaced and turned his head from it, while Scalpel kept on cutting. Blood shouldn't do that: it wasn't like they were cutting into Beast Boy's neck. Savior had a fair idea why it had happened regardless of that biological fact. Goddamn horror atmosphere. Next Robin and Starfire would be running off to have sex, or something equally stupid to try and ensure their deaths under "the rules"...

"Almost got it...!" Scalpel said.

"Scalpel's claws are dulled?" Robin said.

"Rather badly." Savior replied, as more blood squirted on him and he grimaced even harder.

"...I'll get back to you." Robin said, abruptly turning and leaving the room.

"Oh that can't be good." Savior commented.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sophie screamed as the wires cut through the leather.

"AND IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER!" Savior snarled, as Beast Boy and Sophie's screams mirrored each other...

"GOT IT!" Scalpel yelled as he yanked a small piece of metal up and out of the wound, and even before he'd finished extracting it Noel had grabbed it up.

He REALLY hoped this was the right key...

Only one way to be sure, as Savior sprinted over to Sophie's table and frantically jammed the key into the hole, as Sophie felt the metal wires slicing into her...

It turned. _YES!_

Savior grabbed at the nearest length of wire and yanked upward, cutting his hand as he wrested the unlocked segment out of the table. Sophie screamed one final time as the wires, having sunk about a centimeter into her flesh, were abruptly pulled back out, as Savior wrenched the loosed segment out of the table and hurled it over Sophie, where it crashed to the floor with a dull thud.

"Got her!"

"Noel, get over here! Staunch the wound!" Scalpel ordered. Savior did so as swiftly as possible, ripping some of Beast Boy's already ripped up shirt off to serve as a bandage as Scalpel ran to Sophie's aid.

"...so...uh...how are you doing B?" Savior asked his teammate. Terra glared ice at the white-haired superhero, but Savior ignored her.

"When this is over I am going to turn into a bear and eat you." Beast Boy muttered.

"Duly noted." Savior replied.

* * *

"WE'VE GOT HER LOOSE! SOPHIE'S OUT!"

Robin jerked his head up at the call, torn once again from his examinations of Starfire's leg which had rapidly confirmed his worst fears.

"She's out of the trap?"

"Yes!"

"Wonderful! Then I'll just save us all the trouble of any more unnecessary makeshift aciurgy and press my switch and let myself out!" Gauntlet said, as he pressed the switch in his hand.

In retrospect, he was lucky he didn't transform himself into a literal pincushion, as nothing happened.

"And let myself out! And let myself out! AND LET MYSELF OUT!" Gauntlet yelled as repeated pressings of the switch resulted in no effect: clearly whatever would have freed Gauntlet if he'd decided he was actually a murderer and pressed the switch before had shut off when Sophie had been freed first. "DAMN IT, THIS IS CHEATING! I DEMAND A RECOUNT!"

"...Robin? Have Scalpel come. I can handle it." Starfire said.

"It's not that simple Kory...DAMN." Robin cursed. "Beast Boy's key was in his shoulder, there's nothing major there...but this fucking key is right next, it might even be UNDER your femoral artery! Maybe if we had some precise instruments, but with Scalpel's dulled appendages...no matter what he'd tried, he'd rip the area apart. You'd bleed to death within minutes."

Gauntlet stared.

_A choice between yourself and something you hold dear..._

Gauntlet felt violated: he hadn't exactly been peaches and cream before but now he was genuinely offended. True, it wasn't exactly a dark, locked away secret that Gauntlet had a mild crush on Starfire and always had, but it was a personal issue. Something to joke about between friends when you'd had a few drinks and were letting your hair down, and only mildly at that. A villain should NOT know it, and NOT confront him with it. His teammates felt the same. He and a few others (while mildly intoxicated) had once played a game called Perversion Potential where everyone had speculated what others could do with their powers in a...certain fashion. Even uptight Noel had played along and laughed off the suggested games (and the many Japanese adult manga it could be featured in) his rope-like energy talent could do with his girlfriend Raven.

About a month and a half later, a villain had made roughly the same insinuation to Noel. Noel had put him in a body cast.

And here the bad guy was, doing that and going above and beyond the call of duty with it.

Well, FUCK HIS CHOICE AND FUCK HIM.

"Robin." Gauntlet said, low and determined. That alone got Robin's attention: Gauntlet never spoke in those tones. "How much time do I have left?"

"...about 80 seconds."

"...is there any way you can get me out of this chair without harming Kory or killing me."

Robin stood up and looked Gauntlet's bonds over. He hadn't seen anything before, but he hadn't been looking at it from that angle. But now...

"...yes."

"Do it."

"But Rob..." Starfire said, sensing what was coming.

"No Kory. Not that. DO IT." Gauntlet said, as Robin strolled over.

"This is going to hurt."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I cheated on Kory with Kole because Kory hates rimjobs."

"Wait WH-AUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Gauntlet screamed as Robin grabbed his right arm in his distraction and completely dislocated his shoulder, the agony of the bone separation slamming through his body. Shoulder dislocations hurt like hell to begin with, but combat-based ones modified for escape purposes took the concept and added spiked boots to it.

"GGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHoary Hosts of Hoggoth!" Gauntlet hissed, as Robin moved down to his right wrist: with Gauntlet's shoulder now out of joint the arm had a bit more slack, which Robin could hopefully use to get his wrist free.

"OH GOD IS ROB DEAD!?" Savior yelled from across the three rooms.

"SORRY NO!" Gauntlet snarled back, no witty return comment on his lips. Savior had no reply to his furious denial.

As for Rob's arm, there was slack, but not a giant amount, forcing Robin to yank and pull at the arm to get it free from the manacle and sending fresh waves of pain through Gauntlet, as he snarled through clenched teeth.

"Yes! Got it!" Robin said as he managed to slip Rob's arm free of the manacle. "Just one more."

"No. Changed mind. Let die." Gauntlet moaned. Robin smiled despite himself, as he slipped around the other side of Gauntlet.

"Okay Gauntlet. Brace yourself. On three. One. Two."

And then Robin dislocated Gauntlet's left shoulder as well.

"GRAARGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it's drivin' me nuts." Gauntlet muttered. "You said three."

"Anticipation makes things worse."

"I'll anti YOUR cipitation." Gauntlet lamely replied. Around then Savior entered the room, but Rob barely noticed.

"Noel, we need to lift him out of his restraints when I get his other arm free! We're down to less then a minute so don't be gentle!" Robin said as he yanked at Gauntlet's other arm,

"That's what he says to all the girls." Gauntlet babbled. Savior bit back his usual retort: Gauntlet didn't deserve it.

"Kory come help too! Lift his legs when we pull him up!" Robin said, and Starfire dashed over to help as Robin furiously attempted to free Gauntlet's arm and Gauntlet tried to identify the pretty colors dancing before his eyes in between hating his life as the shoulder pain slammed through him.

"How much time do we have?"

"Less...then twenty...seconds got it!" Robin yelled as he pulled Gauntlet's other arm free. "Pull him up through the upper binds! HURRY!"

"No, HURTIE! OW! OW!" Gauntlet yelled as Savior and Robin frantically tried to pull Gauntlet's arms up through the other binds, Starfire lifting his legs up to try and help out.

"Robin the chair's vibrating!" Savior yelled.

"Oh nuts I thought I found my pager." Gauntlet replied.

"GOT HIM!" Robin yelled, as he pulled Gauntlet's slack left arm free of his restraint. Savior did so a moment later and the four leapt away from the throne.

Two seconds later spikes shot up through the seat and back, impaling the empty air Gauntlet had been sitting in just a second before. But Gauntlet wasn't there any more: he was currently down in a heap on the ground with the rest of his teammates.

"...everyone all right?" Terra said as she came into the room.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Gauntlet groaned as a reply. "When this is done, remind me to thank the host for a lovely weekend. And by thank I mean strap him down and play with sharp things until he runs out of blood."

"Duly noted." Savior muttered. "Okay, what's the next problem: how do we get out, or where are our other teammates?"

* * *

If any of the Titans had possessed enhanced vision (not that it would matter, with their powers sealed), they might have been able to see down through the floors below them, down until they reached the basement, past long disused employee locker rooms and laundry machines, until they came to a room that had once served as the main security hub for the hotel. It's electronics had been removed long ago, and the room had fallen into the same state of decay all of the other rooms had.

But recently, some things had been replaced.

And on the floor of that room was Cyborg, face down. His posture was the only thing giving away the unnaturalness of the situation: otherwise he might have just been taking a nap. Nearby, a mass of blank TV screens stared out at the scene, as the computer banks they were attached to hummed quietly. There was another TV, separate from the rest, placed in front of the fallen hero.

As Cyborg blinked his eyes open. Well, in a sense. For Cyborg, the first thing he always saw was a quick screen of schematics. And what he saw was he woke up was about the last thing he wanted to see.

**SYSTEMS RE-INITIATED. SHUTDOWN TIME: UNKNOWN. SHUTDOWN FACTOR: UNKNOWN. WARNING. POISON IN ORGANIC SEGMENT DETECTED. ANALYSING: UNKNOWN NERVE TOXIN. ATTEMPTING TO PURGE. WARNING: MAIN BATTERY REMOVED. BACKUP BATTERY DRAINED. POWER REMAINING: 25 PERCENT. POWER INSUFFICIENT FOR MECHANICAL FILTER AND PURGE. SEEK MEDICAL AID IMMEDIATELY. WARNING: WEAPONS SYSTEMS REMOVED. WARNING: TOOL SYSTEMS REMOVED. WARNING: UNIT MUST SEEK MEDICAL AID IMMEDIATELY: 44 MINUTES BEFORE ENERGY RESERVES DEPLETED. **

"..ugh...hellavu party." Cyborg muttered. "...huh...what? HUH?"

Cyborg tried to push himself up, his human brain and cybernetic systems not yet fully integrated. He knew he was in danger, but he hadn't quite fully grasped how, and how much.

The way his body moved helped drive it home: he felt like he looked. Lots of villains had stupidly assumed he was slow, and he'd made them pay for it, in his old football days and on the Titans. When he actually felt as bulky as he appeared, that was a surefire sign there was big trouble.

What had happened? He and his teammates, they'd been doing their sweep, they'd be nervous because of what had happened the past few years but they'd encountered nothing, and then...

And the TV screen in front of Cyborg flicked on, the sudden low hissing of the snow on the screen getting his attention.

As the snow was replaced by the doll, and as Cyborg stared at its white features, he realized the same thing his best friend had: it had happened again. And from the way Cyborg found himself, it was clear he'd been hit in drive by fashion.

"Hello Cyborg." The doll said. "You are trapped here, as are your teammates, in a game for survival. Listen carefully if you want to live. Out of all your teammates, perhaps you are the one who appreciates your life for what it is; despite being half human, you live your life to the fullest and help others to do the same. However, you owe these possibilities entirely to your cyborg half. Can you really rely on your humanity the same way you do on your technology?"

"...huh?" Cyborg mumbled.

"The safe in this room contains an antidote for a deadly nerve agent that you and the rest of your teammates have been injected with. Each of them is being tested as we speak for their ration. If you want to survive, you'll have to shed your cyborg half - quite literally. Within your body lies the combination to undo the lock, and I've taken the liberty of disabling all of your systems except for those that regulate your organs. You have considerably less time than even your friends do to obtain your antidote, especially since your blood circulates much faster with such a limited range in that body. Are you willing to rip apart this fake body, or will your pride stop you? Decide quickly..."

And the TV turned off.

Cyborg blinked, as he looked around the room. Looking at the other TV screens. And the computer base. And the door out of the room, made of and set in a solid metal frame Cyborg would have had to put some effort behind breaking it down if he'd been at full power: in his severely drained state Cyborg doubted he could knock down a screen door.

He also saw the safe in the corner that the doll had spoken of.

And he saw the tools on the wall. The hacksaws and sledgehammers, the icepicks and crowbars. No advanced machines to help him, not even a blowtorch. Just these simple devices.

And a ticking clock, as Cyborg stood up and looked over himself. He could see one number, painted in black on his right forearm: 12. He couldn't see any more from his current vantage point. And even if he had a friend, he suspected they wouldn't have seen anything either. For Cyborg, it was quite literally what was inside that counted.

"...god damn it, I told B we should have rented _Tetsuo Man of Iron._"

* * *

"His name is Jig-gah!" Beast Boy gasped as Scalpel set the makeshift bandage on his shoulder. Without proper materials, they'd have to improvise with some of Sophie's jacket and Savior's belt to hold it in place, but at least Beast Boy's wound was suitably covered for the moment, and the bleeding had slowed. It would still hurt a fair bit, but at least Beast Boy could still use his arm.

"Sorry. Just about done." Scalpel said, as he pressed down lightly on Beast Boy's bandage, hoping the bleeding would stop completely. They could worry about things like infection later: considering what the TV had said, the nerve poison that was supposedly inside them would kill Beast Boy before his shoulder wound did.

By now, all the Titans had realized it for certain: the chaos magic had come back. Again.

It had just been a normal Halloween, a few years ago. And then the combination of circumstance and a few magical artifacts, one of which had been the magician Mumbo Jumbo's attempts to steal the Titans' powers, had caused a bizarre danger to befall the Titans. A malevolent energy had entered the Titans' world, and incidents had arranged themselves so that they'd taken on familiar forms. To be specific, they'd merged with the contents of a stack of horror films prepared for Halloween viewing and had manifested as the villains of those set pieces to try and kill the Titans, partly in truth to the actions of the fictional skins they'd slipped on and partly because that seemed to be whatever the force (Raven had referred to it as "chaos magic" for simplification: the reality was more complex and required a certain training in the mystical arts to grasp) that had crossed over did. Long story short, horror films had come to life and tried to kill the Titans, who at the same time had lost their powers. And even after getting them back the night hadn't gotten any easier. But despite some close calls, the Titans had escaped the situation with their necks intact.

Needless to say, they were somewhat anxious to avoid a repeat of the situation.

But life was rather cruel in giving heroes what they wanted sometimes.

Next year, they'd tried to prepare themselves against such a possible repeat manifestation. So the chaos force had chosen a different route, and attacked the villainous young counterparts of the Titans, the HIVE, instead. Fortunately for the HIVE, the Titans, in an unrelated plan, had a mole in their operation at the time, who had managed to reverse the circumstances before they hit critical mass. Though it ruined the undercover operation, and saved the lives of a bunch of villains who all desired to inflict harm on the Titans and the world in general. Well, that was the downside of being a hero.

With more information on the manifestation's options, the Titans had tried to prepare again the next year...and...well, they weren't quite sure WHAT had happened. Just that it had happened, AGAIN, somewhere in Jump City, and on a scale they'd never seen before. And then...well, they were still trying to figure out what had gone on besides their own survival. All in all, it had been a mess and the Titans wondered if they'd ever have the whole story. They hadn't even gained any useful information out of the third time around, except a confirmation on the nature of the attacks: due to the unique aspect of the chaos energies when they emerged and manipulated the basic reality of wherever they found a breach to cross over, they always had a trigger that would reverse the process. And since all the death and destruction visited on the emergence sites were due to unnatural, abnormal energies, the process of the reversal and sending the evil energies back to wherever they came from would somehow "rewind" whatever those energies had harmed or killed, like an old VCR tape being set back to the beginning for a fresh watch.

It was the only consolation the Titans had, against the two further downsides beyond the apparent one of "malefic power turning into near-invincible psycho-killers and stalking them". One of those downsides was the longer the chaos energies remained in the real world, the stronger they became, and the harsher their grip closed on those trapped in its deadly web. It would go from arranging deadly circumstances to forcing them to outright deliberately going after its targets and using everything it could to kill them, to the point where someone trapped in its grasp for too long would feel like they were in a horror version of _I Wanna Be The Guy_, complete with falling-up apple (or giant cherries, whichever they were) equivalents. Except you only got one life.

And the other downside WAS life. Specifically, that the energies that had been unleashed seemed to possess some form of it. The Titans didn't know if it had always been that way, or if it had somehow gained it from its initial incursion, but wherever it had come from, it existed. And it raged. And it hated. It did not kill in the fashion of a natural disaster, it sought to kill, and it could remember those who had escaped it. And it would ensure that those who had done so would be crippled the next time around, sometimes gradually, sometimes immediately. But in the end, whatever it was, it wanted you dead.

It was the only way to explain what had happened. The Titans had been out, once again, trying to prepare themselves for the possible incursion, and maybe outright prevent it. They knew what to look for. They were on their guard.

And yet somehow it'd gotten them. One moment they'd been leaving a restaurant (and the food had not been tampered with, Raven had checked beforehand), and the next they were waking up here. They'd been on their guard. They'd been prepared. And it had snatched them up as easily as if they'd been drunk and/or intoxicated as many victims of horror films were.

And the devil was truly in the details. Once again, their powers were sealed off, rendering most of their options useless, but it had been like that the first time. But they hadn't taken all of Robin's gear the first time. Or left Scalpel with enough strength to walk but dulled his hand claws to the point of near uselessness. Or made it so not only could Savior not access his powers, but felt agonizing pain when he did so (well, it would explain it. Savior had escaped the killing efforts of the force the most out of all of the Titans). And of course, the specialist in dark magics, Raven, was nowhere to be found. If the forces that had seized and now threatened the Titans had just done that, it would have been bad enough.

But they'd outdone themselves in their choice for their manifestation this time, whether it was just the opening act or the whole play.

And Beast Boy was about to explain why.

"His name is Jigsaw." The green mutate said again. "Well technically, his name is John Kramer: the Jigsaw name came from..."

"Is this really important?" Gauntlet groused, leaning against the wall and resting from the exhausting ordeal of how he'd been removed from the chair. And having his shoulders popped back in hadn't been much fun either.

"Knowledge, Gauntlet. Knowledge is power, and we need all the power we can get." Savior said. Gauntlet had no reply.

"John, well, Jigsaw, he was...well, basically he was just a normal guy. And then a drug addict attacked his wife and caused her to miscarry her child. And then he found out from a doctor that he was dying. Brain tumor. So he decided why wait, and drove his car off a cliff." Beast Boy said.

"And came back from the dead as so many of the other creatures of horror did?" Starfire asked.

"No, he survived. He was hurt bad but he survived. And in doing so, he "realized" something. Unfortunately it was that people needed a stronger message then what was available that they should appreciate their lives instead of wasting them. So he started making death traps and locking people in them. So they'd 'get the message.'"

"...the tumor did it too." Savior said.

"What Noel?"

"His actions. Losing his kid as you say, being told he was going to die, yeah, that can have an effect. But from what you say and what I remember...the tumor." Savior said. "There's precedence for head injuries causing people to suffer changes of personality, including a few known serial killers. Tumors are even worse, as they're actually inside the brain. They can cause alterations of personality, or damage certain aspects of the mind that allow more drastic changes then the norm. Maybe if Jigsaw had had lung cancer or something, maybe...I don't know. But a tumor...I suspect it damaged, if not outright killed, the moral centers of his brain. He thinks he's seeing with clarity, when all he's doing is seeing through the fresh viewpoint of a sociopath. Maybe Jigsaw's loss and death sentence pushed him to the edge, but it's the rot in his head that pushed him off."

"Sounds plausible enough." Robin commented.

"I've seen examples myself, back in my old life. Gentle souls turned into...ugh." Scalpel said, and checked Beast Boy's shoulder. Well, it didn't seem to be getting any worse.

"...uh, yeah." Beast Boy said. "Even so, John's smart. He researches, he knows how to screw with people's heads...and he can have assistants to do the leg work. If this damn chaos is manifesting as him, chances are he had all his ducks lined up in a row."

"So why US?" Terra complained.

"What?"

"I mean, he tries to kill people who waste their lives? We don't waste our lives! We're heroes! We help people! People who can't help themselves! We've nearly died doing it, and...he wants to KILL US FOR IT?"

"Brain tumor Tara." Savior said.

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!"

"Uh, well, Jigsaw doesn't think he's a killer. He's just trying to...show us where we're wrong. Let us know where we're making mistakes. Maybe...I...I don't know Tara. Maybe I read him wrong. Or maybe it's the chaos force, I...uh." Beast Boy groaned. He didn't care for deep thought at times.

"Doesn't matter. We're in his sights. Okay Beast Boy, what can we expect?" Robin asked.

"Uh, traps. There will likely be more traps. But he's trying to show us stuff, so there will be tips on how to escape or avoid them, maybe...sometimes the tip isn't much help, ow." Beast Boy said, indicating his wounded shoulder.

"Blood's stopped. Just be careful while moving Garfield." Scalpel said, as he got up and went to check on Sophie, who had been resting and silently listening.

"You said assistants. What kind of assistants?"

"Oh, well, uh...there was Amanda, but she...and then there was...damn. I don't know. I don't know which one of the movies is being used for this, depending on which one he might have...he might even be walking around himself..." Beast Boy said. "Oh, wait. Chances are he has some sort of central room to keep an eye on us. In fact, he might be watching us right now." Beast Boy said, as he gestured with his unhurt arm, pointing up at the corner of the room.

Behind a cage sealed to the wall, a security camera kept a silent vigil over the Titans. None of them had really noticed it or its brothers in the adjacent rooms, even during their search earlier: after all, it was neither yellow nor in the shape of an X.

A moment later a part of the broken stand crashed against the cage.

"YOU ARE DEAD! DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU FUCKING NUT?" Terra screamed at the camera. "YOU THINK WE'RE TOYS? WE'RE GOING TO FIND YOU! AND WE'LL SHOW YOU SOME PLAY! OH YES!"

"Terra, calm down. Save your energy." Robin said.

"WHY?"

"Because chances are, if what Beast Boy has indicated to me is accurate, there's a trap waiting for you."

Terra opened her mouth...and then fell silent, the color draining from her face as she remembered the words on the tape. They were all dying, injected with a nerve toxin. And to get an antidote, there would be tests.

Savior suspected she felt that fear now. That faint cold fear. The fear of mortality, bearing down on you. Funny what you could ignore when you had superpowers.

"Calm down, Tara. Don't let him turn this into something unusual. We deal with nuts all day every day. He's... nothing special." Gauntlet said. Beast Boy would have been comforted by his teammate, if his expression didn't indicate that Gauntlet seemed to be trying to convince himself as well.

"He's right. We can solve this. The first problem is getting out of this room." Robin said as he approached the lone door that the Titans hadn't opened. "This was locked before. Beast Boy, do you think the keys will work?"

"Uh...maybe...careful! There might be a switch to shoot a gun if you use the wrong one, or...just be careful." Beast Boy said.

"Got it. Everyone get clear." Robin said, as all the other Titans retreated into the two side rooms. Robin carefully approaches the door, knelt down, and reached up, seizing the handle to test it.

And to his surprise, this time the handle turned.

The door was now unlocked.

"...hmmmm." Robin said, wondering when that had happened, as he adjusted his position and then carefully began to open the door, looking for a trigger wire.

Opening the door the faintest crack revealed no wire. Robin's eyes scanned up and down the opening, and then pushed the door open a touch further. Nothing. Another inch. Nothing.

Robin pushed it open a bit more. Nothing. There was no trigger wire across the door.

But just in case, Robin shoved it open and then dove to the side.

No noise resulted in the action save the creak of the hinges. Robin carefully peered into the door frame. Nothing but a dirty, smelly hallway.

And some yellow dots on the floor.

Robin stood up, as the other Titans re-emerged from the other rooms and joined him, looking out into the hallway. The rooms the Titans had been in had apparently once been a suite, the door exiting into a T-shaped hallway. The yellow dots led off to the left and around the corner to the 'vertical bar' hallway of the T shape.

"...I think we found our yellow brick road." Robin said.

"We're off to see the wizard." Gauntlet added.

"The wonderful wizard of gore." Beast Boy also added.

From the looks he got, it was clear his teammates had wished he'd kept quiet.

* * *

It probably wouldn't hurt much.

That was about the only comfort Cyborg had, as he took a crowbar off the wall. Being what he was, pain could be regulated for him, even in such a weakened state. As for his task, well, he could perform surgery on himself better then any of his friends could. Better him then them.

Just look at it as a logistical challenge.

And when you find the one who forced you to do it, look at him as one too. For example, Cyborg always HAD wondered if you could rip someone's head off and then...actually considering his situation, that was probably a poor choice of revenge.

"Maybe I'll just leave this boot off and shove it up your..." Cyborg grumbled as he carefully inserted the bar into his knee joint, the other tools he needed placed on the ground around him. "And then maybe I'll shoot the rocket from my shoe..."

And Cyborg wrenched as hard as he could.

Unlike a human, it didn't precisely hurt.

Unlike a machine, Cyborg didn't feel nothing.

"GRARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...!"

* * *

_Suffering, Titans?_

_You haven't seen anything yet._


	3. Yellow Brick Road

Chapter 3: Yellow Brick Road

_"The strongest iron, hardened in fire / most often ends in scraps and shatterings."_  
-Sophocles

"Robin, it's a bad idea." Savior said.

"Maybe if this was an active battleground Savior, but it's not. It's a building full of traps. Last I checked, traps couldn't walk...right?" Robin said, looking at Beast Boy.

"All of his traps are real. Well, er, as in we could build them. If we were normal. Like him. They're not magic." Beast Boy said. "Uh, if the chaos magic started altering them, then it wouldn't be Jigsaw. Against the rules, kinda."

"Then there should be no problem leaving our injured here, until we find a safer place. At least. Hell, maybe we can deal with the rest of this stupid manifestation by ourselves." Robin said. "But I don't want to put them in any more danger."

"You can't, Robin. The danger is ever present. That's why we should stick together." Savior countered. "You heard Beast Boy. Jigsaw might have assistants. If we leave him and Sophie here, even with a guard, what's to stop them from waltzing in with a gun, or tossing in some knockout gas, and dragging them off to use as bait? Or worse, stick them back in another trap?"

"Jigsaw wouldn't do that." Beast Boy said.

"Even so, he has other options. And even if he doesn't have assistants now, his traps might be set up so we need everyone. Hell, we might leave, find that out, and find we can't come back. And who knows what would happen from there."

"Not just that." Beast Boy groaned as he tried to get up, wincing as Terra helped him. "Jigsaw does all kinds of tricks. In the third movie he set things up so people ended up as enemies without even realizing anyone else was there. For all we know, he has the damn Hive Twenty-Two or whatever number they're up to now in the basement just waiting for us to trip over and kill each other. And even if he doesn't...we're all poisoned. We don't have time to waste."

"I agree with Beast Boy. With the timing issues, everyone moving together is likely the best result." Scalpel said.

"...all right...right." Robin said. "All right. I'll lead. Wounded in the rear. Savior, you bring the rear up."

"Gotcha. Are we following that yellow paint trail then?"

"That's what the video said, didn't it? Follow the yellow brick road." Robin said.

And so the Titans, as swiftly as they could due to caution, left the suite room they'd woken up in, Robin in the lead, Starfire behind him, Terra and Scalpel helping their wounded significant others, Gauntlet behind them, and Savior at the back watching theirs as they followed the spats of yellow paint down the left hallway. Robin tried the doors to the rooms they passed, but none of them would open, even after Robin delivered several fierce kicks with his still-in-his-possession steel lined boots.

"I suspect that the surface of these doors and walls don't match up to its guts." Robin said: considering the neglect demonstrated all over the place, half the doors looked like they would break down if you breathed on them. "Beast Boy, what kind of setup does Jigsaw favor?"

"Well, uh, we found out in the last one virtually all of his traps were in buildings he owned, back in his previous life. Uh, this could be one, transplanted or assumed."

"And he took the time to replace all the barely there doors with identical looking replacements...that I would bet money on are steel-cored?" Savior said, knocking on one of the doors himself.

"Maybe. He does do a lot of work."

"And what he does not do, the chaos magic probably did." Starfire said.

"Agreed. Considering how well it seems to know us, it wouldn't surprise me if it made sure Jigsaw had a setup that mirrored his MO and compensated for the fact we're more experienced at seeking escape routes then his average victim." Robin said. "All the same..."

Robin kicked mightily at the most recent door. No dice.

"Right. Yellow brick road." Robin groused, as the group continued onward.

Within several steps they came to a curtain laid over the end of the hallway. A few quick checks by Robin found no traps rigged to it, so the group pushed through it, finding the path splitting again. The yellow paint spatters led off to the right, down a hallway that would have nothing distinguishing it from the left if the paint wasn't there.

However, in front of the Titans was a pair of elevators. And one had its door opened.

"...okay, so how is he messing with us this time?" Gauntlet asked.

"Let's find out." Robin said, as he stepped up to the open doors.

"Dude, be careful! Jigsaw's, er, lessons tend to be...what's that word, always the same way..." Beast Boy said.

"Linear?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, that. If you deviate from the path, chances are you'll end up dead."

"Right." Robin said: the opening of the door seemingly had no wires to trigger. Robin cautiously leaned into the elevator, ready to yank his head out ASAP if needed. There was nothing inside save some trace garbage, and as Robin looked up, he saw the elevator roof had also been tampered with: all that seemed to be left was a metal grid with unblocked holes. Robin could clearly see through the roof the way it was currently set up, though he could determine nothing in the shadows beyond.

"I wouldn't trust this elevator even if you'd said nothing B." Robin said as he withdrew his head. "What about opening the other doors?"

"If he wants us to, there'll be a way. If not...bad idea." Beast Boy said.

"Right. Okay guys, resume positions." Robin said, as the group once again followed the paint trail.

The doors they passed proved as resilient as the previous ones: even the utility closet they found at the end of the hallway was firmly locked.

The stairs they found just after the closet door however, were wide open. The paint trail led up the one-way route.

"I suspect this leads to the roof." Robin said.

"Which is just another dead end unless our powers come back from vacation." Gauntlet commented.

"Think he rigged the stairs B?"

"He'll let us know what we're up against, unless we go off course. It's all about the rules. If we don't follow the rules, that's when we'll end up in trouble."

"I think we're long past trouble Beast Boy." Savior said, as Robin carefully walked up the stairs, checking along the way, just in case. He found no dangers, and the door on top was unlocked. Robin opened it and carefully stepped through.

A moment later, he peered up.

"You guys better come see this for yourself."

And as the other Titans headed up the stairs and out onto the roof, they realized Gauntlet was more right than he realized: the roof was a dead end.

Mainly because it was covered with a giant square metal cage, the filthy bars laid out in tic-tac-toe cross patterns that completely sealed off the roof from escape or rescue.

"...I hate being right." Gauntlet commented.

"Not alone on that one Rob." Savior said as he looked around, noticing something. While it was heavily overcast, gray clouds choking the life out of the ambient light until it was reduced to the bare bones, it was clearly daytime. Savior guesstimated around late afternoon. "That's new."

"Eh?" Gauntlet said. Savior pointed out the daytime factor: every other one of the chaos incursions had happened at night. "Oh. So it really is November 1st."

"I have no idea how long we were out. It could be the middle of March for all I know." Robin said, looking around at the cage. "This is rapidly approaching the ridiculous. Replaced doors I can see, but a giant cage over the roof?"

"Chaos magic." Beast Boy said.

"Right! Of course! Never mind that from what I've grasped, within the context of his power and resources, Jigsaw could NEVER do something like _this!_" Gauntlet abruptly ranted, waving his arms around. "But forget imposing rational limits on his organizing and construction abilities, he has chaos magic! Chaos magic! Explains everything! How does Batman keep his identity secret? Chaos magic! How does _American Idol_ get good ratings? Chaos magic! How do the Yankees always win? Chaos magic! How..."

"Rob, calm yourself! The faster your heart beats, the faster the nerve poison inside you circulates! Don't waste time for nothing!" Scalpel warned, putting a protective hand on Gauntlet's shoulder.

"...next Halloween, I'm leaving the country for 24 hours." Gauntlet murmured.

"I think you'll have to fight for the space on the plane, Friend Rob." Starfire replied.

"Which will likely be full of snakes." Beast Boy groused. It spoke of the mood that no one jumped on any followup comments. The Titans instead looked around the roof more, peering through the cage to try and figure out where they were. But all they could make out clearly was the giant body of water on one side of the hotel, likely the ocean. The rest of the view quickly became swallowed by mist and fog: the Titans weren't even certain if they were on the coast or if the building was directly in the water.

"What's that?" Terra said, pointing to a certain part of the top of the cage. The Titans took a look.

"...I believe that's a cooler." Savior said. The Titans agreed, as far as they could tell. Hanging from a hook in the middle of a caged was a scuffed and dirty cooler, like the kind you would take on picnics. "Now why's it up there?"

"I think this is supposed to tell us." Sophie said, as she pointed to a tape recorder attached to the cage the Titans were sealed in, near the door.

"I got it." Robin said, as he detached his cape and carefully walked over to the tape recorder, wrapping his hand around the cape and using it as a makeshift shield as everyone backed away. Robin reached out and took it...

As the wire attached to the back of it snapped off, disappearing down the hollow tube masquerading as a cage bar it had been attached to. A second later, everyone hit the ground.

Nothing emerged to slice or impale the Titans. But as Robin carefully started getting up, he thought he heard a low buzzing hum start to come from the cage bars near them.

"...Scalpel, you hear something?" Robin said, as the rest of the Titans also cautiously got up.

"...yes. The bars. They've somehow altered."

"The bars are vibrating? Were we supposed to come up here with Daredevil?" Gauntlet asked.

"The tape will tell us." Beast Boy said, as Robin turned it over, found the on switch, and pressed it. Within a few seconds, the familiar voice started again.

"Hello, Starfire."

Everyone looked at the alien, whose eyes betrayed nothing as she listened.

"I'm sure that by now you've had extensive experiences with humans on this planet. It makes me curious as to what type of person you are, given your history and your choice to remain with your teammates. It's time to find out." The tape said. "There is an ice chest hanging from this metal cage. Inside are three antidotes: one for you, one for Gauntlet, and one for Morgue, assuming that they survived of course. These are the only rations for the three of you in the entire building. All you have to do is climb up this cage, retrieve the syringes, and climb back down. However, you'll have to climb as quickly as possible if you want to avoid serious harm. These bars, as you may have guessed, are electrified, and while they aren't impossible for you to climb, the surges can be quite painful. Are you willing to endure this pain in order to survive? Just be careful... it's a long way down."

The tape ended.

"...screw it, next year I'm leaving for the whole fall season." Gauntlet said.

* * *

Cyborg wondered, if, no, _WHEN_ he told this story to others later, how many of them would think, or even claim, he had it easy. After all, he was mostly machine. Machines had no nerves to harm. Sure, he was at risk, but at least he wouldn't be hurt during it.

Which just demonstrated a crucial lack of understanding on just what Cyborg was. Yes, a lot of his body had been replaced by machinery. But that machinery had been linked to his remaining organics, which had included virtually all of his original nervous system. The nature of his construction meant he could take himself apart and put himself back together rather easily compared to a human being, yes...at full power, with the proper tools. True, at his current low power rate and with the crude tools he had, his systems could still filter his sensations so that it didn't hurt in a technical sense.

But being technically correct (despite what some comedy sci-fi cartoons might say) was not always the best kind of correct. And the experience Cyborg was going through, as he pulled, wrenched, yanked, and smashed his body apart, both his legs already in pieces and him bracing himself to remove his primary chest plate...

Well, the best example he could give was when he'd had his wisdom teeth removed in his early teens. Apparently his body was maturing faster then the norm, and his dentist had recommended early removal to head off potential jaw problems later. Cyborg's father Silas had had a top dental hygienist specialist do the job, and the operation itself had been without pain...

But even completely numb, Cyborg had still felt the whole process: his gums being cut open, pliers being inserted, seizing the teeth buried in the tissue and wrenching them out of their stubborn beds, one after the other. Even without pain, the situation still ranked as one of the most unpleasant experiences in Cyborg's life, even after he'd been mechanized and after all the many battles and damages he'd suffered since forming the Titans.

But that long afternoon in the dentist's chair was rapidly being supplanted by Cyborg's self-surgery. It was the same sense of cold violation, magnified 10, 20, a hundred times over. He didn't feel it as pain, but he felt it nonetheless. The shock of it, when he'd first wrenched off his left knee, had hit him so hard he'd cried out despite himself. And now, as he wrenched off his chest plate with a low moan, he felt the same cold violation shoot through his body.

Some called Cyborg unnatural. Sometimes he'd agreed with them, and more times he'd told them off, even if it was just in his own head. But this...this was definitely unnatural. Just like anything Jigsaw subjected his test subjects too, no matter what he thought. He was sick in the head, and unlike Cyborg, that wasn't something you could always fix with the proper setup and some good tools.

Cyborg dropped the chest plate, a low groan sounding from him. He'd found three numbers so far, including the one on his arm: 12, 9, and 5. But there were none inside his chest plate. He'd have to take a look inside a few more parts of it. And then try and check his back. And then it would be a gamble to get one of his arms off, check it, and then get it back on and check his other arm with the first arm likely reduced in capacity to see if there was another number in his other arm. And if he could do all that, and get the antidote before he ran out of power. Which had just crossed into 17 percent.

But as bad as he had it, Cyborg pressed on. His friends were in danger. And in a way, they had it worse.

After all...they were the ones who felt pain.

* * *

Indeed, Sophie wouldn't have minded Cyborg's steel torso to protect her from when the metal wires had agonizingly bit into her for those few seconds before Savior had removed them (and said removal wasn't much fun either). She'd managed to stop the bleeding and make her own makeshift bandage from her bra, but the wounds still burned away at low intensity, reminding her of her close call.

Well, it did sometimes. At the moment Sophie was focused on what the Titans had just been tasked with. Or rather, what Starfire had been tasked with. She'd have to climb up the cage, and then climb over to where the ice box containing both her and Sophie's (and Rob's) antidotes to the nerve poison the Titans had been injected with. Robbed of her flight and strength, this would be a hard enough task. Then Jigsaw went and turned the cage into an electrical conductor.

Sophie was beginning to see why the chaos magics behind this (if that was what they had indeed done) had decided to throw their whole lot in with the _Saw_ movies this time, instead of a variety of creatures and monsters from all forms of fiction. After all, why go for a body count when you can go for a Sade story?

The Titans had argued over the task, with Robin, Gauntlet, and Savior all trying to take Starfire's place. Everyone else had been argued away: Beast Boy was wounded, Terra lacked the arm strength or body mass, Sophie was also wounded and had too much body mass, and Scalpel, on top of lacking dexterity, had metal hands and feet that would likely beeline the electrical current right into his heart. Gauntlet had dropped out shortly afterwards based on his shoulder injuries as well: even if he could climb up the side of the trap he likely wouldn't be able to climb over. Savior and Robin had then debated for another minute before Beast Boy had piped up and reminded them that replacing Starfire was likely pointless: as Jigsaw had said in his tape, helping each other would grant the Titans no advantages. Robin and Savior had still been torn before Starfire added that this ordeal was addressed to her: even if one of them took her place and succeeded, there was still traps waiting for them, and she would not risk their safety or odds when they found those dangers by potentially injuring one of them doing her task.

Even with it decided, Savior had gone back down to the floor below to try all the doors again, claiming if he could find a sheet or a blanket the Titans could follow around beneath her and catch her if she fell, taking Gauntlet, Scalpel, and Terra with him. Robin, meanwhile, had paced the roof, apparently taking measurements with his head.

Sophie doubted Savior would find anything: from what she'd seen, the hotel was a complete ruin. Anything useful that had been left here had likely been stolen or rotted away long ago.

Still, when Sophie heard loud stomps on the stairs, she felt her heart sinking anyway. Sometimes, one would have preferred to have been proven wrong.

"Nothing." Savior said as he stalked out of the doorway, his teammates behind him, more solemn in their failure. "The damn doors. Can't open any of them. FUCK!" Savior said, kicking the roof edge below the electrified cage. "...maybe I _can_ call on my power. Just a little bit. Insulate my hands, maybe I could just take the pain enough to-AUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!" Savior screamed, falling to his knees as his attempt to call on his talent failed once more. "Damn it..."

"Savior, stop it. What applies to Gauntlet also applies to you." Scalpel said, as he headed over and knelt down. "You may be at even more risk. Your talent is based in your nervous system. It might even be partially composed of nervous tissue. That's more damage to you if you try and force its emergence: you may expose it faster to the toxin, cause it to break down quicker. Keep it down. If you do, the opposite may hold true: it may take longer for the poison to affect you. But not if you keep trying to force it out like a round peg and a square hole!"

"He's right dude." Beast Boy said from where he was sitting nearby. "Your Shimmer's all nerves. Don't get on its nerves, so to speak."

"...okay...okay." Savior wheezed. "...just...damn. Damn."

"Tempest level." Scalpel agreed, referencing a high demon equivalent in Blacktrinian mythology. Savior noticed that Robin and the others had been speaking amongst themselves after Scalpel had run over to his side and wandered over.

"Oh Noel. I was just saying." Robin said. "I've done some base calculations...I think that cage roof is about 35 feet high. Now, if I remember my Newton...how much do you weigh again Kory?"

"About 88 Nuups, Robin."

"Right, what was that again, about 110 pounds? Okay...on 35 feet...gravity and drag resistance...if she falls, she'll fall at about 14.7 meters a second Savior. That's about 32 miles per hour."

"You want to try and catch her?" Savior asked.

"Just us two. Discounted our wounded, Scalpel's claws, even dulled, are too much of a risk, and Terra doesn't have the body mass. It's just you and I. But if she does fall, we'll only have about a second and a half to catch her. And even then..."

"Yeah." Savior said.

"I will do my best not to fall." Starfire said solemnly.

"I know you will." Robin said. "I know you will."

"...then I will prepare for the climb." Starfire said, as she separated from the group, an odd gesture considering how she normally was. But considering what she was about to do, Savior didn't exactly blame her from deviating from the norm.

"...I think I know where we are." Robin said off-handedly.

"What? Where?" Terra asked.

"And what does it matter?"

"Well, uh..." Robin mumbled, and then continued on regardless. "I'm pretty sure we're at the Whannel Hotel. It's down the coast from our city a few miles, near a small town called Perth. Nice coastal hotel, from what I've heard...but then a hurricane swept through in the 80's. Changed the coast structure. Hotel ended up swamped and abandoned. But for some reason the necessary authorities never got around to tearing it down. So it was stuck with about fifteen feet of water in it until the coastline changed again, and that's why I happened to know about this place, because supposedly what changed it so that it was no longer partially submerged was what happened when we formed the team. Specifically the damage Torment did. When the water rushed into the new space he made, it rippled up the coastline. I think. I might be getting the science all wrong." Robin said. "In any case the state came in and did some cleaning before abandoning it again, and it's basically sat her rotting ever since, used by homeless and teenagers and such. Until now anyway."

"Now it's a perfect maze for the rats." Savior muttered.

"Despite all our rage." Terra added. The Titans had no reply.

"I am ready." Starfire said. "I have tested the cage voltage. It is...unpleasant, but I believe my system can handle it. I shall proceed."

"...all right. Everyone else get clear. Savior, you're with me." Robin said. Despite the blanking effect of his mask, his eyes were clear to Noel: don't let me down. And Savior sure as hell didn't want to, as they followed Starfire to the cage.

"All right then...much like my early space flight training...that was also rather unpleasant but I managed..." Starfire said, as she reached out and seized the cage, jerking a bit before she corrected herself. "Ow. No worries. I can handle it. The, what was your measurement again, oh yes, the amp's seem low."

As Starfire took hold of the cage with the other hand, jerking again a bit, and then she began to climb, her body tense but persevering as she began climbing the side, the painful electricity coursing through her alien body.

"Ah, yes...this...is not fun...but...I think...my body can manage..." Starfire said. "Barring heart stoppage, which I do not think will happen, I believe there is a good..."

And then Starfire spasmed and was violently hurled backwards, shooting right between the standing Robin and Savior before they realized what had happened, as she came crashing down onto the roof.

"STARFIRE!" Robin screamed, running to her in blind panic, Savior with him and the other Titans rapidly joining them. "STARFIRE!"

Robin put his head down on her chest to check her heartbeat. The low thumping he heard did little to calm him, as Starfire opened her eyes, coughing.

"...oh yes. The surges." Starfire said in quiet pain. "Something of an oversight."

* * *

Normally, Cyborg would have liked to have found the number 1 on his back. The charm of it was somewhat lacking this time though, as Cyborg had found the number on one of his back armor plates. With that number added to the ground, Cyborg had taken apart his left arm, which was considerably harder as he had to do it one handed. The end result was a rather mangled mess, even more so then the rest of him. The worst part was Cyborg had found no number amongst the battered parts of his left appendage. He groaned low and loud, but immediately went back to work in trying to reassemble his arm. He was down to 13 percent power and it wasn't about to get any easier.

Putting the arm back together wasn't so hard: KEEPING it together was. By the time Cyborg lifted up a twisted, numb (to him) appendage whose index and ring fingers failed to operate, he was down to 11 percent.

Well, at least he knew what to do now.

With another dull moan Cyborg reached down and grabbed the hacksaw he'd been left. Maybe he had it easier then Adam and Dr. Gordon...but in his Cyborg's estimation, not by much.

The 11 ticked down to 10. Cyborg grimaced and starting cutting.

* * *

"It's NOT going to work Nigel." Robin said tersely.

"Considering who she is Robin, I thought you'd be more understanding." Scalpel replied, as he sliced at his costume's cape with his dull claws. "That surge could have killed her."

"It's just as likely to kill YOU." Savior said.

"Not if I wrap up my hands." Scalpel said. "I weigh a lot more. No electrical surge is sending me flying."

"Even IF that's true, Scalpel, you are forgetting two key details." Robin said. "One, you're a lot heavier then Starfire, I severely doubt you can make it across the hanging climb, let alone back. And two, if you fall, catching Starfire will be hard enough. There's no way we can catch YOU."

Scalpel stared at the two.

"...but...I just can't..."

"Doesn't really matter Nigel." Gauntlet said grimly. "They were just arguing with you so you wouldn't notice Starfire getting on the fence again."

"What?" Scalpel said, as he turned around...and saw that indeed, Starfire had once again begun climbing the fence, her hands wrapped in scraps of his cape she'd snatched up when Robin had given her a subtle signal.

As she violently jerked, her body snapping outward like it had been struck, her hair momentarily standing on end. This time, however, she didn't fly off.

"...ow. Another surge." She said.

"Starfire! Don't! I..." Scalpel began.

"Will stand aside. Like the rest of us have to." Robin said, his voice somehow audible through his clenched teeth. "Like Beast Boy keeps saying...it's those damnable rules."

Starfire, despite the surge, had stayed on the side of the cage this time, as she cautiously began climbing again, her body tense from the constant current. A normal human could have never done it, but Tamaranian nervous systems featured considerably heavier insulation, a biological gift from learning to endure hard vacuum (exactly how Tamaranians had evolved such talents considering how hostile to life hard vacuum was, Robin had never exactly found out). But that just kept the electricity from putting Starfire into cardiac arrest or cooking her like an egg on a skillet. She still felt constant pain as the voltage shot through her body...

And that was the normal voltage, as another surge slammed into her, several of the Titans recoiling themselves as the alien received the shock. But once again, she stayed on the cage.

"I think...I have the timing down now." Starfire called down, and resumed climbing.

"..okay everyone, keep out of the way. Noel and I have it from here." Robin said, and the group reluctantly moved near the roof exit while Robin and Savior backed away from the cage wall, as Starfire quickly climbed up several more rungs and then stopped to hold onto the cage in preparation for the next surge. Savior wasn't surprised to see Robin's body almost jerk in synchronization with Starfire's when she was hit with it. He suspected if he was in Tim's shoes, he'd feel the same way.

Starfire made it to the top just before the next surge hit, but this time the impact caused her to flex up and slam her head into the top of the cage, slumping down briefly as her grip loosened. Savior heard Robin suck air through his teeth.

"...I'm all right." Starfire called down, though the smoke Savior could see wisping from her hands indicated otherwise. It suddenly struck Savior that if Scalpel hadn't sliced up his cape in a moment of martyring overreaction, he and Robin might have been able to use it as a makeshift catcher.

Too late now.

Starfire had pulled herself off the wall, and was now dangling from the cage top.

Now...the real game began.

* * *

Maybe it was luck, or maybe the smallest of mercies, but Cyborg had found the last number, 22, after wrenching off the second armor plate of his arm. At least, he sure as hell hoped it was the last number. He'd used a part of himself as a crude mirror to check around his head, and had found nothing. And there was no way he could take apart his own head: there was too much delicate electronic work. Considering the skill in which he'd been picked clean, Jigsaw likely knew that. If he didn't...

Would Jigsaw miss variables? He may have been smart, but he was still human. Could he accidentally create an un-winnable test, unlike his would-be successor Amanda?

...Cyborg sure as hell hoped not.

He was down to 8 percent power. Nowhere near enough time to put himself back together. He'd have to get over to the safe as is. And then open it, inject the antidote...

...and then he'd have to find a way to recharge himself, or else when his backup battery ran out he'd just end up a glorified paperweight, unable to help his friends, defend himself, or do anything until someone else came along and recharged him, or took advantage of his helpless state and finished him off. Or worse, he'd be left there forgotten until his systems broke down from sheer neglect, a long slow death he wouldn't even be aware of.

One thing at a time. First, get to the safe. Cyborg rolled over, placing his arms down on the ground, as he began dragging himself forward...

And his left arm disintegrated, as Cyborg pitched down and bashed his head on the floor.

* * *

As Starfire let out a small cry as another surge hit her, her body swaying in the air above the Titans' heads as she struggled to hold on. Climbing a cage was one thing, but as anyone who had ever tried to do a military-style pull up could attest, hanging one's weight off something and trying to move was a whole different beast. Especially when you were used to having superhuman strength. ESPECIALLY when your training without said strength was far from extensive. And _**ESPECIALLY**_ when the object you were hanging off of was electrified.

Beast Boy watched, feeling sick at heart, wondering if there was any kind of encouragement he could shout, a question mirrored in most of the other Titans as Starfire recovered and once again began to struggle onward, hand over hand.

"Perhaps..." Starfire said quietly. "Watching all those episodes of _Ninja Warrior_ had something of the merit in them after..."

The surge slammed into her, her arms spasming, and Starfire lost her grip in her right hand, dangling in the air by one limb as her body shook and her strength faded...

* * *

As Cyborg pushed himself up, grunting. He'd screwed up. From the way he'd done his examination, his left arm was simply too damaged to do much, and Cyborg had stressed it to the breaking point and unfortunately forgotten that fact.

Cyborg shook his head, his schematics informing him of said damage. But he barely noticed. All he saw was his power, still at 8 percent and likely to tick down to 7 very soon.

Time waited for no man, and especially not half of one, as Cyborg looked at the floor. Damn it, cement. Maybe if it had been wood he could have used one of his tools to pull himself along. But with a stone floor, all he had left was himself. Ironic, considering he was also a Stone.

And Cyborg hadn't yet discounted that, as he seized onto the ground as best he could with his remaining arm and began dragging himself towards the safe...

* * *

As Starfire swung herself up and seized onto the cage again, steadying herself.

"Right then, let's have no more of that." Starfire said, as she continued on, Robin and Savior keeping close beneath her. Starfire was about halfway to the chest, and she wasn't slowing down except to try and tolerate the sudden shocks...

Which weren't lessening in devastation any, as the latest hit her, her hair now more or less standing straight up without respite. In any other situation, Gauntlet would have found it comical. Here, it just reminded him of how without his namesake, he couldn't do jack shit.

"Starfire! Toss the case down when you get it! We'll catch it!" Robin called up.  
"...no!" Starfire replied. "The impact might...shatter the antidotes...I can't risk that...I'll carry..."

Another surge. Another jerk of agony. It seemed like the only thing Starfire could carry was on, and even that...

But she did it, as she crossed several more feet, within reach of the antidotes. She paused, waiting for the next surge. Trying to ride it out...

She did, somehow. Coughing smoke, and hoping that whatever she smelled that was burning was her clothing, Starfire took another "step" closer, the object of her ordeal within her grasp...

* * *

A triumph: Cyborg had made it to the safe before his power had ticked down to 7 percent. He had time. He could do this.

Unless he ran into a Dilophosaurus.

Normally Cyborg would wonder what had prompted that bizarre thought, but he didn't have the luxury to ponder.

The safe was electronic, the dial below an electronic number screen. Cyborg quickly ascertained he had to dial to a number and then press the dial in to "lock it": a button in the middle of the dial reset the numbers manually. From a quick trial and error run, Cyborg puzzled out that the code had five numbers, just like how many he'd found on his body: if he didn't put the correct numbers in, the safe 'locked up' after he'd entered the fifth number and required him to reset it. That discovered, Cyborg checked to see how high the numbers went: the counter rolled over at 99.

Figuring that out _had_ let his power tick down to 7 though. No more time to waste. On a vague hope, Cyborg put in the numbers in the order he found them: 12, 9, 5, 1, 22.

It wasn't it. Cyborg tried the numbers backwards: 22, 1, 5, 9, 12.

Nothing. Cyborg wasn't surprised. Jigsaw wasn't precognitive: there was no way for him to tell which order he'd find the numbers in. All right, Jigsaw would probably slant the test to something he could do better then his companions...or maybe make him think that to trick him.

He tried the numbers in ascending and descending order. Nothing. He tried to figure out a math problem they could form and came up with nothing. What else...

And then a rather disturbing thought occurred to him: what if the three single digit numbers were supposed to combine somehow? Worse, what if the numbers were supposed to repeat in some fashion?

That turned several dozen choices into several thousand.

And 6 percent power to find it out.

* * *

As Starfire ceased reaching for the ice chest and grabbed onto the cage above her: a moment later the latest surge slammed into her, her body jerking around once more as the Titans held their breath and wondered if this would be the one.

But she didn't fall, and even as her body kept twitching she resumed her approach, swinging in to get just a bit closer, and then, clearly bracing herself, reaching out with her left arm to pick the ice chest off the hook.

"She can't make it back." Savior said quietly.

"Shut up."

"Get her to toss the case down. Have her drop. Better we can be prepared."

"She can make it!" Robin hissed.

"This has nothing to do with the spirit, Robin, and everything to do with the..."

Starfire had underestimated how long it would take her to grab up the ice chest, and as she removed it, the surge hit her.

"Flesh." Savior finished. With a true dread sense of finality.

* * *

Flesh granted no advantages in either case, as Cyborg frantically ran through combinations as quickly as his minimal computer processes could throw them up. And all he got was error buzzes. This was insane. To stumble on this by chance...

No. That wasn't how he did things. Jigsaw expected him to panic (well, in a way, since Jigsaw stuck people in traps to make them appreciate their lives and would probably prefer in a sense if Cyborg DIDN'T panic) and run out of time. He couldn't do that. He had to be calm. He had to think. If the flesh didn't serve, the mechanics would, as mangled and on the blink as they were.

Cyborg thought it over. There must have been some sort of code here. What kind of code would Jigsaw formulate? He wanted to test people, make them realize their mistakes, how they were alive and yet in their own way...

A solution clicked in.

"...got...cha...?" Cyborg said to himself, as he reset the combination and began dialing in his latest grasp.

1...12...

And 5. As in 5 percent power, as Cyborg turned the dial to 9...

* * *

As Starfire pitched forward, Robin's heart seeming to stop

As she somehow grabbed hold of the large hook the ice chest had been on, somehow hooking said cooler back on before she did so as she fell, even as her other arm shook like a can of jumping beans.

But she made it, the surge passing.

"...right. No more dawdling." Starfire said, as she removed the cooler once more and stuck the handle in her mouth, firmly clamping her jaw onto it as she tried to turn herself around, her arms and hands burning from exertion and the electricity itself, the pain spiking deep into her torso. But she still had some distance to go.

She thought back to her past, of the abuses she'd suffered. She'd moved past them. She could get past this. Her love had put it perfectly once: pain was weakness leaving the body. And if she ever had to be strong...

And so she recited her mantra, as she began climbing back. Pain was weakness leaving the body...pain was weakness leaving the body...pain was...

The surge slammed through her. She'd known it was coming. It didn't help. Her body wouldn't listen.

Especially her right hand, as it seized up and lost its grip, leaving Starfire dangling once more by one arm.

...weakness...

* * *

...22 now...

And then the last number, that mirrored the number inside him...5.

No error buzz. For a moment Cyborg wondered if he'd made a mistake...and then he reached out and seized the safe handle.

The handle turned.

...he'd done it. He'd puzzled it out. He'd just needed the right angle. To seek to be ALIVE.

And so Cyborg pushed himself back and opened the safe door.

There it was, just as Jigsaw had said it was, a basic hypodermic syringe with a dark green liquid. Normally Cyborg would be hesitant to inject anything colored as such, but surely Jigsaw wouldn't lie, as Cyborg carefully picked up the needle, rolled over with exaggerated caution, and then sat up as best he could. A normal human would have had to go through the trouble of finding a vein...but Cyborg's state did grant him an advantage over that, as a segment of his battered right arm opened and Cyborg inserted the syringe. Normally this would be for lubricant, but Cyborg had thought ahead for times when his flesh side would need injections and had modified accordingly.

Several seconds passed, as Cyborg stared at the 5 percent in his vision.

**...UNKNOWN AGENT INJECTED.**

Well, the unknown factor couldn't be helped. Well, at least he wasn't going to die.

From poison anyway. Entropy still loomed. His set in stone tasks were over: now the hard part. Improvising.

Cyborg rolled over and began clawing his way back across the room, heading over to the computer banks that served to control the security system. They weren't on, but they were active. All he had to do was get inside them, hunt through their guts, and...

4 percent. And Cyborg doubted that this time he was going to be dropped into Fixit's lap.

The hacksaw was on the floor as Cyborg dragged himself past it: Cyborg snatched it and the crowbar up, as he tried to carry both without breaking them and get to the computer banks.

* * *

As Starfire dangled, trying to get her arm to work, trying to convince the abused muscles that she knew best for this, the movement centers of her brain trying to sync back up with her heart.

"Come on Star." Robin whispered. Starfire couldn't hear him, but it didn't matter. She knew anyway, as she reached back up...

Pain was weakness...leaving the body...

* * *

As Cyborg gambled and lanced his hand out, his metal fingers sinking into the thin metal the computer were placed in and wrenching a hole in it, as Cyborg inserted his crowbar and yanked as hard as he could...

The panel was pulled off. Amazingly, despite his exertion, his number remained at 4 percent. Cyborg tossed it aside as his mechanical eye adjusted, as he began hunting through the innards of the computer, pushing past the motherboards and whatnot, trying to find the power cables attacked to various items. He located one quickly, but after yanking it out, he determined it as too strong: trying to improvise it as a recharger would work about as well as a person improvising a defibrillator by dropping a radio into the bath. He needed something more low key, and since he was at 3 percent he better locate it...

* * *

She had to grab back on. She had to get the antidotes down. She couldn't fail her friends. She didn't care about the aspects of the self that this Jigsaw chaos manifestation seemed to believe in: she'd seen how such thinking had gone wrong so many times, how much pain and suffering it caused, and to her, no matter what judgment Jigsaw might make, she would endure pain and suffering, not for her own life, but so others would not, especially her friends. She would not be weak...

She reached up, clawing to get a full grip again...

Pain is weakness leaving the body...

The surge hit her.

But there's a sometimes-coda to that mantra...

And her hands finally gave out.

The world went quiet, as she began to fall.

Pain is weakness leaving the body...

Agony is what remains.

* * *

Small wires. Almost insubstantial for his task, but Cyborg didn't have the option to be fussy. Nor did he have a proper cutting tool, which left him with the hacksaw, as he tried with nervous care to slice off the wire's outer covering...

But he managed it. Long hours spent toiling over his cars had its advantages.

Cyborg tested the wires with a finger: active. Another machine advantage. Pulling the length of wire out, he yanked off its covering entirely, sliced through the exposed wire, and then, with careful fingers, rolled up the metallic ends into a pair of very crude and soft plugs, feeling the power spit from them. Now...all he had to do, as he slid open part of his badly damaged chest, was insert the makeshift charger and hope that the right mechanics inside him still functioned...

He fumbled around, trying to find a catch. Come on...so close...come on...

...

And then with a jerk, the wires were drawn slightly into his body. Cyborg turned his attention to his schematics.

**ATTEMPTING IMPROVISED POWER CHARGE.**

**...ATTEMPT FAILED. ATTEMPTING REROUTE.**

**...ATTEMPT FAILED. ATTEMPTING ALTERNATE REROUTE.**

**...CONNECTION STABLIZED. CHARGING.**

Cyborg slumped in relief, and then looked at his current remaining charge.

2 percent.

"Time to spare." Cyborg said with grim humor, as he let his arm fall limp at his side. "...computer, analyze agent that unit injected."

**ANALYSIS INCOMPLETE. RESULTS UNKNOWN. AGENT STATUS: UNKNOWN. SYSTEMS COMPROMISED: MULTIPLE ERRORS DETECTED. REBOOT RECOMMENDED.**

"Right." Cyborg said. Well, if he shut down and the poison killed him anyway...it made Jigsaw a hypocrite. Cyborg suspected, from what he remembered, Jigsaw would hate that title more then anything else.

So he'd reboot, and let the antidote and makeshift charger do their job, and maybe when his computer fixed itself as best it could he would wake up feeling more like himself. Then he could properly put himself back together.

And then, maybe he'd take some other things apart.

"...henh. Is that what you think." Cyborg said to no one in particular. "Booyah."

And then things went black, as Victor Stone vanished beneath the machine.

* * *

Falling...

...hold on.

That was all she could do now. She hadn't been strong enough to make it back, and she had no idea how the antidotes were placed in the cooler. If Robin or Savior had actually asked her to throw the cooler down, she'd have refused: if she'd thrown it down, they might have missed it, or dropped it. Even if they'd caught it, the jarring sensation from the grab might have been enough. So, she had to carry it down.

But she'd failed.

So all she could do was seize onto the case as she fell and hold on, her legs tilting up as she did. Hit the ground and take the damage. As long as the case was safe.

She would break before she let it, as the ground rushed in.

But where one's own strengths failed...

Robin and Savior caught her.

...but their strength wasn't enough either. Neither was their timeframe: they just didn't have enough time to compensate for Starfire's fall properly

And hence when she fell into their arms, the impact of her legs hitting first proved to be too much for their left/right interlock. Starfire hit their attempted catch, and about 60 percent of her downward momentum bled into their limbs before said left/right interlock broke...even as the other set of arms better caught Starfire and bled off more impact.

Which meant that when Starfire hit them she abruptly snapped forward, and Robin and Savior couldn't do anything about it.

Her knees and shins impacted the ground, but Starfire barely felt the pain as it exploded up her body. Her attention was on her final failure.

She'd tried, but she couldn't compensate the forces at hand, and when she'd snapped over and slammed against the ground the cooler had been torn from her hands and was now drifting up through the air.

And down to the ground.

As Beast Boy dove out and grabbed it at the last second, screaming in pain as his shoulder wound was ravaged by the motion.

But the cooler remained intact.

"...oh." Starfire said, vaguely aware that the Titans were rushing to her, and that she was in terrible pain from her test and the fall. But she was alive...

...and as Terra and Sophie knelt by Beast Boy, he opened the cooler and looked inside.

The look of relief on his features said it all.

"...sleepgonowtime friends." Starfire rasped, and then her own blackness consumed her.

* * *

"I should have done that." Gauntlet said quietly.

"Beast Boy was a bit closer and reacted a bit faster. It's probably better you didn't. Probably would have landed on him, made his wound worse." Sophie said, as she checked alongside Gauntlet's tied off arm for a vein. As it had turned out, the three syringes inside the cooler HAD been securely placed, wrapped in a padded case. Even if Starfire had just tossed it down to the ground, they likely would have endured it.

But even with powers Starfire didn't have X-Ray vision, and hence hadn't been willing to gamble. And it had cost her: Robin and Savior had managed to break her fall enough to prevent death, paralysis, or some kind of surefire crippling, but her legs were still badly messed up from how she landed. Bruised knees and shins might have been better then broken ones, but not by much, and that didn't count the terrible burns Starfire had on her hands, nor the likely damage she'd taken from all that electricity being forced through her. She'd actually coughed smoke again when the Titans had been carefully carrying her back down the stairs, which likely wasn't a sign of anything good.

Now they were back in the starting room, which as it turned out, they could return to, at least this time. Robin, Scalpel, and Savior were doing their best to treat Starfire's injuries, having wrapped her legs and arms in more makeshift bandages from what was left of Scalpel's cape. Terra was trying to stop the resumed bleeding of Beast Boy's wound. And Sophie, having administered her own antidote for herself (coroner work helped for finding veins), was giving Gauntlet his dose.

"I just...why...I was on my toes, it..." Gauntlet muttered.

"Hush now Rob. We've got enough troubles, we don't need to add any more by ourselves." Sophie said. "Needle's going in now."

"Owtch. Ow. Ow it burns." Gauntlet said in a dead tone, his attempt at humor dying at the gate. Sophie let him have it anyway: it was likely how he was going to cope with the situation.

"...she's about as stable as we can get her." Scalpel said, as he stood up. "I'm going to check with Gar."

"Do that." Robin said, as he looked over the syringe with Starfire's antidote. She'd earned it...which likely meant nothing. Not if the Titans couldn't escape. She'd put herself through so much, for them, and if they went and died, she'd likely feel she'd failed anyway. Robin certainly felt that way.

"...I'm sorry." Savior said quietly.

"Pardon?" Robin replied.

"I should have caught her better, she..."

"What, that didn't hurt enough?" Robin said, using the old cop trick of gallows humor. In fact, the wrenching impact of Robin trying to catch Starfire had indeed hurt a fair bit, but Robin had barely noticed at the time. He suspected Savior had his own aches from the attempt. "You tried, Noel. That's all I can ask of you. Especially considering the situation."

"Don't use real names in the...oh forget it, even I can't keep that stick up my ass for this." Savior replied.

"So what do we do now?"

Robin looked up at Terra, who was anxiously hugging her shoulders.

"We managed to stop B's bleeding. So...now what?"

"...well, I guess we try to figure..."

"There's another yellow line." Savior said, loud enough for the other Titans to hear.

"What?"

"Another one. I spotted it when we were carrying Star back here. Going down the other hallway, opposite the roof exit." Savior said. "And I'm pretty damn sure that wasn't there before."

The concept hit the Titans: if there was a freshly tracked route...

"I'll go check it." Scalpel said, getting up.

"Nigel wait..." Robin said.

"I've helped the wounded as much as I can. Yell if there's a sudden problem. I'll go scout the path. Give you all a heads up." Scalpel said as he walked out the door.

"...there really was no way he could have done Starfire's test for her." Robin said quietly after Nigel had left.

"...Not from where he stands." Sophie replied.

* * *

Indeed, for Nigel Hastings, it wasn't such a inferiority complex as it was...was there such a thing as a Good Samaritan complex?

Whatever it was, Scalpel was much like Starfire, but while she was willing to suffer out of kindness to others, Scalpel's focus came from a sense of darker obligation. They'd had a rocky road, especially in the beginning, but for Scalpel, the Titans were the only stability he knew. If they ever disbanded (or worse), Scalpel didn't know what he'd do. Oh, he had Sophie too, but without the Titans, where did he belong in this universe?

He'd be damned if he lost that.

But this damn atmosphere was taking advantage, it seemed. Taking just enough of his strength so he could move, but not enough to be of any help. Taking away the sharpness of his claws (including his feet, he'd checked) just enough so that his medical knowledge was reduced to roughly the skill and technique of the average butcher, and yet leave enough so he couldn't risk catching Starfire. He didn't want to fail any more. He couldn't...

Which is why he went to check alone.

...and stopped.

The Titans had seen the open elevator before: it seemingly had nothing of interest. But that was then.

Because they certainly would have seen the large SCALPEL spraypainted in black that now adorned the back of the elevator car. Whether that had been put there along with the yellow paint trail or when the Titans had been back in their starting room, Scalpel didn't know.

...it was almost like _they_ did.

...or arranged it as such. Scalpel growled low in his chest. Maybe he should call the others...

No. He'd seen the pain they'd been under watching helplessly as Starfire did her damnable climb. He wouldn't subject them to that unless it deemed it necessary.

But his choice didn't make Scalpel stupid. He re-checked the elevator entrance for any newly placed wires. Nothing. He then got down on his knees and knocked, then pushed on the elevator floor. The car did not go into freefall. Then, still as cautious as he could be, he stood back up and put one foot on the elevator floor, gradually placing his weight on it.

A low whine sounded in his ears. Scalpel glanced up. He knew the sound of strained metal when he heard it. Well, he hadn't suspected the elevator to be in tip-top shape, and he didn't have much choice where else to go. Well, he could go back and check the new trail (there was one, Scalpel had confirmed), but he remembered Beast Boy's words. About these "rules" that seemed to govern everything. And considering how blatant an invitation the elevator was making, Scalpel didn't much like the possibilities if he ignored it.

And so he carefully, ready to jump, stepped fully into the elevator.

Another loud whine of metal sounded above him. The elevator cables definitely sounded tampered with. For now, the car was taking his weight. Nigel would have to avoid any drastic movement: no sense pushing the luck he'd already had (right?).

So...how exactly had _his_ web been weaved?

Scalpel found out: Robin's look inside the elevator had been brief, and apparently he had missed a detail: up in the back right corner of the gridwork that served as the roof, the emergency latch was still in place. Of course, in reality elevators didn't have hatches on their tops for people to crawl through (or easily seen and opened ones anyway): that was almost entirely the realm of fiction. But then again, Scalpel was more or less in a _Saw_ film. That seeming error was moot.

Robin apparently hadn't seen it. And even if he had, Scalpel doubted there had been an X drawn on it. His name hadn't been painted on the back wall of the elevator when they'd first passed by either, and Scalpel was pretty sure Robin would have noticed that.

Scalpel stared up at the hatch, unsure what to do. As the original videotape had said, X marked the spot. But considering what the X's had led to so far, Scalpel wasn't exactly jumping for joy at having found one (he wouldn't have been jumping at all, considering his predicament).

But the sooner he got his trap done, the sooner he'd get his antidote: even weakened, he could take a wound a lot better then his three teammates who'd gotten their neutralizing agents, and his rather virulent blood would likely slow down the toxin at least somewhat. Hell, maybe it eliminated it entirely: Blacktrinians had never been good ones to poison. Whether it affected him or not, Sophie needed him. Maybe not normally, but rendered powerless and wounded? He'd protect her anyway.

But his vigilance still hadn't outstripped his sense, as he reached up, carefully took hold of the latch knob, and began to slowly open it. The tape addressed to him was probably attached to it: if it wasn't, Scalpel was going to jump out of the elevator if he heard anything that even remotely sounded like a wire trigger.

He couldn't see any wire though, as he ever so carefully drew the latch open, watching and looking for a glimmer or any other sign...

And he found nothing, as he finished opening the latch door, leaving it open and pointing towards the elevator floor. There was no tape recorder attached to it, and Scalpel couldn't see one in the dark that lay above the elevator. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the shadows...

As the brief crackling flash bloomed in the darkness above Scalpel, and his eyes widened. Maybe if he'd been Cyborg, he might have considered there were other kinds of triggers. Like electrical ones, a signal sent when Nigel had inadvertently completed a circuit.

"Oh _zortip_."

The object slammed into his face.

It wasn't acid, or poison, or on fire, but even if Scalpel had been normal he would have felt it, and in his current state it hurt like hell, as he snarled in pain and recoiled, clutching his face as whatever had hit him bounced off and clattered on the ground, a clatter that was rapidly joined by a barrage of followup noise all around him, as Scalpel briefly agonized, before another weight slammed onto his shoulder, and another bounced off his head. Even as Scalpel snarled in pain once more, something else fell over him, a line of weight, as Scalpel finally stopped blocking his vision via his pained face clutch and began looking around...as another two lines of weight came falling down on his form. Scalpel snarled and grabbed them up.

Chains: thick, heavy metal chains, and even as Scalpel was looking at the ones in his hand another fell on him, even as more objects fell through the holes in the gridwork and crashed down onto the floor. Scalpel at first was confused: it was just chunks of metal scrap. It was still falling, and it hurt like hell bouncing off of him, but it wasn't attached to the chains...

As three more chains landed on him, even as a few missed and clattered on the floor around him, and the elevator violently lurched.

And Scalpel realized just what he'd walked into.

As two more chains fell on him, driving him to one knee. He'd been a fool, letting surprise freeze him, and now the chains were weighing him down and all the scrap was adding extra weight to the elevator which was already dangling precariously...!

As Scalpel tried to lunge forward...and another chain landed on him, and he was driven once more to his knees...

As the frayed cable above was subjected to that jerk and found it was one more it could endure.

The snapping noise filled Scalpel's ears.

"SOOPHIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE...!" He almost wailed, as the elevator went plummeting into the abyss, his voice swallowed by the shrieking metal of its purposely broken brakes.

And then cut off as a gigantic, violent crash blasted up the elevator shaft as the falling car ran out of room.

And then, silence.

And despite Savior and Robin arriving moments later and desperately calling down the shaft, silence was all the answer they got.

* * *

Jigsaw watched them on one of the few televisions he'd set up in his current room, the uncolored but clear picture allowing him to have seen the whole thing: it now showed Savior and Robin yelling down the shaft. Jigsaw couldn't hear what they were saying: the camera had no sound. But he could guess well enough.

They still didn't understand. Despite all they'd seen already, they reacted like this was just another one of their usual battles, where everything would work out as soon as they found the proper thing to punch. In a way, that said it all: such a constant solution was a very human element. And to Jigsaw, the human element was stark and easily estimated, no matter what direction it took.

Savior had spotted the camera, and was now pointing and yelling at it, clearly furious. Ironically, Jigsaw had not seen Terra's earlier eruption, but even if he had, his reaction remained unchanged. To the mindset of those who dressed up in costume and considering violent brawls with similarly attired individuals as one of the heights of virtue, he was a villain, and moreso in their head, a nail, with them the hammers.

Life was not that simple, and neither was the game. Their inability to learn that had already cost them. How high that cost would yet grow...

Jigsaw glanced behind him, checking on his guest. She'd wake up soon, and join in her part. The pieces of the puzzle would all be in place.

Who would ultimately solve it...

Pain. It was part of the puzzle. Blood. It was the price of freedom.

Death...

It was never easy.


	4. Oh Yes, There Will Be Blood

Chapter 4: Oh Yes, There Will Be Blood

"_Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy."_

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The doors are unlocked." Terra said.

"-considering the circum...what?" Robin said, turning towards the skinny blonde as she pushed through the curtain that covered the end of the hallway before the elevators. It hadn't been a fun ten minutes: going back and telling Sophie what had happened (as far as the Titans could tell), and then bringing her out to see (also to make sure she didn't stumble over some unexpected trap) had been one of the hardest things Robin could recall doing recently. Savior had expected crying and screaming (and not for any Sophie-specific reason: he probably would have done the same thing if Raven had been in the elevator...and it reminded him that they hadn't found Raven yet. Damn it...damn...), but Sophie had taken it with remarkable presence, biting down and swallowing the clear storm that had erupted within her. Clearly she didn't want to give Jigsaw the satisfaction, as she returned to the room and set about looking after Starfire and Beast Boy. With that done, Robin had called Gauntlet over and the three had been standing near where Scalpel's elevator had been, discussing just what to do.

It hadn't looked like there would be a quick solution. First the three had debated about going after Scalpel. Savior and Gauntlet had argued he was their teammate and friend, and they couldn't just abandon him. Robin had countered that there were two mitigating factors 1) They had no way to get down the elevator shaft, and 2) Even if they had, they'd have had to somehow figure out a way to lift his immensely heavy and dense body back up the way they had come. Normally, Robin would have found a solution to those two problems...if not for the poison. Only three of them had received antidotes so far: the rest of them had who knew how much time before they started feeling the effects of the nerve toxin. And with the injuries of the three given injections, especially Starfire, there simply wasn't time to waste futzing around. After a moment to think about it, Savior had switched to Robin's side, claiming that as team doctor, Scalpel would likely regret it if they ended up sickening and dying from the poison or the traps because they'd wasted time (potentially futilely) helping him. Gauntlet had clearly wanted to keep arguing on the fact, but after a little bit he (immensely grudgingly) conceded.

On that: perhaps because of it, Gauntlet had then argued against following the path, saying it would just lead to further traps. When Savior had pointed out the whole building was likely full of traps, Gauntlet had tried to argue that at least they wouldn't end up in the ones Jigsaw wanted them to. Robin had then pointed out that according to Beast Boy's "rules", Jigsaw often (if not always) anticipated when people were trying to go outside the box and made sure they either didn't or regretted it. Maybe going Jigsaw's way would lead to more traps, but they were at least traps they could potentially overcome. Trying to find a door number three would likely lead to a land mine, or something in that vein. Then Savior had argued that while the chaos magic may have assumed Jigsaw's form, there was no guarantee it wouldn't subvert Jigsaw's rules for its own sake. After all, it wanted them dead...

And then Terra had come along.

"The doors are unlocked." She repeated.

"...how did you find that out?" Savior asked.

"We were talking about how the floor had changed. It occurred to us, maybe we should see what else had." Terra said. "So I went out and tested some of the knobs. They're turning now. Hence, the doors are unlocked."

"Maybe." Robin said. "Now, even if that's true...why all of them?"

"Might be a distraction. We've still only gotten three antidotes so far, we still need to find the rest. We can't dawdle for any reason." Savior said.

"I say this shows we should do my thing." Gauntlet said.

"And I retort with the fact that if the doors are now UNLOCKED, someone is trying to turn "your thing" to its advantage."

"Okay, okay!" Robin said, trying to prevent another argument. "All right. We're going to follow the path first. See where it leads. Then we'll decide what to do about the doors."

"I have no disagreement with this plan." Savior said.

"...I don't like it, but you're the boss, Tim." Gauntlet said without sarcasm.

"I just want to get out of here." Terra said.

"We all do. Terra, with us. Everyone, watch for tripwires." Robin said, as the four headed down the hallway, following the new yellow paint spatter trail.

They didn't have to go far: it curved and went into the left room just before the staircase.

"...someone check the stairs." Robin said. "I'll check the door."

"I'll do it." Gauntlet said, as he headed over to the staircase.

Or rather, the open air shaft where the stairs leading to the sixth floor had once been. They were gone now. As were the lights: Gauntlet tried looking down to see if it was any different there, only to find his vision swallowed by thick shadows within a few feet. If they tried jumping or climbing down, Gauntlet had no idea if they'd find stairs, empty air, or a pit of water filled with man eating alligators.

"...when I get out of here, I am going to castrate Alan Smithee, or whoever precisely directed these damn films." Gauntlet said, as he turned and walked back to the group. Robin was crouched over by the door, having completed his own examination, while Savior and Terra stood off to the side.

"To paraphrase some other people in a sticky situation, going to 5 from here is right out." Gauntlet said

"Not surprised." Savior said, as Robin carefully began opening the door, his ears cocked and his eyes peeled for Jigsaw's favored trigger. "...wait, how did you know we were on the sixth floor?"

"Saw it on the elevator indicators when we passed by. Since the stairs led to the roof and it went up to six, this is obviously the sixth floor." Gauntlet said.

"...kay-o." Savior replied.

"Quiet guys." Robin said, as he pushed open the door more. He saw no wire. Getting on his stomach, Robin crawled back a bit and continued pressing the door open with his left arm.

Nothing was set off, and Savior moved to hold the door open as Robin got up.

"I don't see any obvious triggers." Savior said.

"Let me check." Robin said as he slipped around Savior and entered the room.

He didn't find any obvious triggers either.

He didn't find anything. Inside the room was a dirty bed, a bashed apart dresser drawer, more strewn trash and rotten muck, and a door that led to a positively disgusting bathroom. But there was no obvious reason why the yellow paint dots led to this room: they stopped dead a foot and a half into it, and they indicated or concealed nothing.

"Okay, this isn't just wear and tear. He had to have intentionally messed this place up." Gauntlet commented.

"Maybe. His trap setpieces were always covered in grime and worse. Probably a metaphor in the films for moral decay, or something." Savior said.

"Truly a master visionary, for what other movie has ever used physical decay to represent moral decay?" Gauntlet said, the sarcasm back and heavy in his voice.

"A discussion we will have to have later." Robin said. "I'm going to search this room guys. I want you to go back and check all the other ones. If they're all unlocked, we might need something in one of them. But don't let your guard down. Just because this door wasn't rigged doesn't mean one or more of the other doors are."

"And if you do find any traps, scream really loud so I'll know which way NOT to go, alright guys?" Gauntlet said.

"Your concern is touching." Savior replied, as he dug around in the remains of what had once been a dresser drawer, finally finding a foot long piece of wood that suited him. "Ah, there."

"What are you planning Noel?" Robin asked.

"Lever. If the wires are laid so tightly over the door that even beginning to open them sets them off, I get out of the way. But if they're arranged so I can open the door a bit without setting them off, I'm going to jam this in, get out of the way, and yank it. And if there's anything that decides to greet me at the door, it will hopefully miss."

"Unless...the door is set to explode!" Gauntlet said.

"Well let's hope you set that one off Rob." Savior replied, his voice lacking either good natured teasing or any real venom.

"Hey, I'm not dismissing anything. You heard what he said, I'm not his typical target. Neither is Star. He already broke his rules with this, I'm not assuming ANYTHING."

"Probably smart." Terra said. "I could go back, ask B, I don't think he'd rig doors to explode, considering we can only open them because they're now unlocked...Noel can I have one of those wood pieces? Maybe we can use it as a weapon."

"Unlikely. This is old, rotten wood." Savior said, noting the softness of his wood piece's surface. "Hitting someone with this would probably be as effective as hitting them with a wiffle bat. If that."

"Yeah, that's gotta be like a minus 4 to damage." Gauntlet said.

"So you don't want one then Rob?"

"Never said that. Dolls have crap for armor class, so it'll be SOMETHING." Gauntlet said, as he dug through the remains and found some decent pieces for himself and Terra.

"Don't take TOO long guys. Some of us are still running on borrowed time." Robin said.

"Right...sorry." Gauntlet said as the three left.

"Not yet." Savior said quietly. "I fear that's the real bad part about this. Not yet."

Gauntlet had no reply.

* * *

The light, dim as it was, pierced into Raven's eyes as her eyelids fluttered open, and she winced and withdrew, a deep grinding pain in her head immediately following in the footsteps of her return to consciousness.

What had happened? Raven thought she might have been mistwalking, a kind of pseudo-astral projection like state where people with minds and powers like her did the same thing as sleepwalking, except with their heads. And sometimes across time and space. It was, in its basic state, an instinctual reaction to a certain kind of danger, a unique fight or flight type of response that Raven's heritage and learnings had given. The problem was, while it allowed Raven to gain a greater awareness of her situation, there was no guarantee she would retain any of it, or enough of it to make sense. Perusing aspects of the world while your conscious mind slumbered was one thing, and actually remembering what you perceived when you awoke was another. Much like dreams.

But Raven retained one tiny but vital piece of information, and it granted her the knowledge that she was awakening into a nightmare.

She once again slowly opened her eyes, as the figure turned towards her. It was hard to make out in the dim light of the room, the only illumination the TV's the man was watching. But Raven could see the deep red robe he wore. And she could see his face, as she stared into his analyzing eyes.

"...John...Kramer." Raven said matter of factly.

John would have been an excellent poker player: his surprise over the fact she knew his name was reduced to almost nothing in the microsecond it made its way to his features. But even without her powers (a fact she was beginning to realize, and wasn't much surprised about), Raven was good at reading people. In a way, much like her captor was.

She shifted, lifting her arms and looking at the heavy manacles wrapped around her wrists. If she'd known Rob's exact situation, she would have recognized the chair she was in as a brother to his, though hers did not have spikes waiting to impale her. Instead, she was chained, as well as at the wrists, at the waist and ankles, the waist chain attached to the chair and her ankles wrapped together and chained to the foot of it.

Just to be sure, Raven tried to seize them with her power. Nothing happened. Of course. And all the while, John watched her, his face impassive, his eyes missing nothing.

"...you've made a considerable error." Raven finally said.

"...have I." John replied, keeping his gaze level. It was rather strange to Raven. Usually the villains she battled look at her with anger, or hate, or gleeful sadism, or arrogant dismissal, and other expressions generally in that vein. And of course, sometimes fear. But she couldn't recall anyone ever looking at her with such ratiocinative care. Which just reminded her of how dangerous John Kramer was. Or rather, the chaos energies that had assumed his form and were utilizing his methods.

"Do you know why you're here?" Raven asked.

"You seem to know already." Jigsaw replied.

"Maybe so. So tell me why you do. Why you set this scenario up. Why you decided to target superhumans. And then tell me why you don't seem to realize the notable part of that sentence." Raven said.

"I have not entered this unprepared." Jigsaw replied in a simple tone.

"...all right then. Let's say that's true. Why us? It doesn't fit." Raven said. Jigsaw had no answer. "How are WE wasting our lives? You know us? You accept us for what we are? We're the antithesis to your considerations! So either you don't know the situation as well as you think you do, or you're willingly ignoring it and hence rendering your whole point of your existence moot!"

"If you say so." Jigsaw replied. Normally, Raven would have broken something by now, yet another reminder she didn't have her powers.

"You are not John Kramer. John Kramer is a character played by an actor. You are a manifestation of malevolent energies that has become fond of a particular gimmick, seeking our deaths out of an uncontrollable homicidal urge that basically encompasses the entirety of your being. And you know it, deep down." Raven said. She wasn't quite sure what she was trying to do, but she was damned if she was going to dance like a puppet for the chaos forces that continually intruded into her world and tried to force their deviant, dangerous, and often outright absurd concepts ripped from an aspect of fiction onto her and her friends. Maybe forcing the issue would just expedite if not outright cause her demise, but as someone once said, it was better to die on your feet then live on your knees.

"...and your errors?"

"What?"

"You label me as you have...so tell me, if this is true, why should I give it consideration?"

Jigsaw said. "You call, and believe, yourself to be heroes. That should be all you need to know."

"Need to know?" Raven replied. "If you're insinuating that we're alike...I hate to pull out this old...ugh, saw, but you are nothing like us. And we...we are unlike anything you have ever chosen."

"Precisely." Jigsaw said, as he turned back to the TV screens.

"...this isn't a game you can win."

"This game is not about me." Jigsaw said, as he watched the TV screens. "This is about you."

Raven stared for a moment, then closed her eyes. Well, like it or not, she was now on the board. Now...which way did she move?

More importantly, which way did Jigsaw think she would move?

* * *

Savior was awash in similar thoughts. Terra, Gauntlet, and him had worked out how they were going to open the doors: they'd handle the ones on the "yellow" hallway, and he'd check the ones on the other hallway outside the starting room the Titans were in. Savior had checked in with the Titans still in the safe room: Starfire was stable but still unconscious, and Beast Boy's shoulder injury had stopped bleeding again. Sophie told Noel she had administered Starfire's injection with no problems and would continue monitoring the injured Titans' vitals. The dead, robotic tone she delivered her words in left a cold, bitter wrenching in Savior's gut. How had the second film been advertised? Oh yes, there will be blood? How right that was.

Savior had filled Beast Boy in with what the Titans were doing: he was unable to narrow down whether any door would be indicative of something needed, if it wasn't overtly. Savior said he'd call Beast Boy if he did find something of an indicating nature, and then had walked down the hallway on his right.

The first door he opened had no wire or any other trap triggers, and it revealed nothing but an empty room (albeit a somewhat cleaner one then what Savior had seen). It did, however, reveal a piece of useful information: the room had a window. Key word being HAD: the window was covered with a thick steel plate securely welded over the opening. Savior had poked at it a bit, but it quickly became evident that he wasn't getting out that way unless his powers returned or he found a container of acid. Though maybe he could relieve one of said containers from one of Jigsaw's traps...

That possibility, and the line of thought that followed, was what Savior had been pondering as he worked down the hallway. The second room was also "untrapped" and full of disgusting garbage: Savior had poked around for a few minutes, holding his breath during that time, before he decided that having seen no X's or yellow spots there likely wasn't anything in there. The third room also didn't have any trigger mechanisms, and was similarly filthy, though in a more tolerable sense. So what was Jigsaw trying to do?

It was the larger sense of that that stymied Savior. He'd thought about stealing some acid if he could, and he knew from Beast Boy that at least one of Jigsaw's traps from the films had involved acid. But would Jigsaw actually allow his trap materials to be utilized against him? Noel was no Macgyver, but he and the Titans had received some (and in a few of their cases more then some) training about using their surroundings to their advantage. Surely Jigsaw knew that. But if that was the case, why had he left that old, rotten dresser drawer in the room the yellow paint streaks had led to?

Well, maybe he hadn't. Maybe the forces that had transformed this old derelict hotel had helped with its "decoration". The mind behind them might have been nasty, but it wasn't omnipotent. Maybe it would consider the obvious, but not the subtly obvious...

...because if Jigsaw had considered what he was doing...then just what was Savior doing?

Was EVERYTHING he had picked to do worked out beforehand?

Before Savior could work himself into a full-on state of nervous paralysis though, he came to the forth door, and carefully began to open it.

As he heard the faint crinkling hum, and looked down to see it. The wire across the door frame, pulling taunt.

"...aha." Savior said, as he readjusted his position to get out of the way as fast as possible, and then began to slowly open the door further. The wire grew tighter, but it didn't snap free after the door had been opened several inches. As carefully as he could, Noel extracted his makeshift lever from where he held it beneath his right arm, and carefully inserted it into the door.

It held: The wire remained untriggered.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Savior called into the open door. There was no answer. Savior stepped back to assess the possibilities. Now, assuming there was no one in the room (and Savior suspected by now everyone who was going to wake up in the hotel would have woken up), would Jigsaw had rigged the trap to be directed at the door frame...or would he have anticipated the Titans and rigged it from another angle?

Savior considered the wire. If the trap was meant to trigger immediately, then laying the wire tightly across the door was counterproductive: the trap could just as easily hit the door if it wasn't fully open yet. So if the wire allowed some looseness, the trap was likely to activate just as the target had finished opening the door and realized what they'd done. Which meant that it should, by all accords, target the door frame. And that Noel would have about a second to get clear.

Savior hedged his bets by pressing himself on the wall to the right of the wedged piece of wood, and then kneeling down to lesser his profile even more as he reached up and placed his hand on the wood piece. Jigsaw may have had one hell of a mind, but he wasn't omnipotent. And if the chaos atmosphere made him so, well...then it might as well just kill the Titans instead of going through all this absurd recreation.

...and just to be on the safe side even more, Savior followed his levering yank that swung the door open, the rotten wood piece disintegrating into moist shards in the process of unhinging the trigger wire, by diving on the floor and curling up in a fetal position.

As it turned out, he'd overdone it some, but his instincts were bang on: the second the door fully opened a scythe-like blade swung down and stabbed out through the doorway. If Noel had opened the door normally, he'd have caught it right in the neck.

"...hell of a way to say hello." Savior mused as he carefully stood back up and approached the door frame, looking at the killing blade. Any concept of taking it quickly faded: the entire hilt was covered with glued on broken glass. He'd slice his hands to ribbons before he got it off. Maybe if Cyborg was around, or Scalpel...

With fresh bitterness staining his mouth, Savior carefully stepped around the scythe-like blade, wary of any followup tricks. And the room that Jigsaw hadn't wanted him in...?

...was pretty much like all the others.

"The fuck?" Savior cursed lowly, as he looked around the room. It yielded no more hints or anything Savior could determine was useful to Robin. Hell, the only thing that really stood out was the two wooden chairs in the room...

...wait a second.

Savior picked up and looked over the chair. They had nothing on them, but by themselves they had a notable factor: they were dirty and generally unpleasant, but the wood was considerably fresher.

Well, to a degree, as Savior tested one of them by trying to bash down the scythe trap and/or bash off the glass deterrent. All he succeeded in doing was breaking the chair into pieces: the tool was firmly set into its trigger construct and the glass was too carefully glued on to be removed by such crude means. Savior groused for a moment, and then moved on, one of the chair legs in his hand. At least he wouldn't have to keep returning to the room Robin was in for a new tool.

And he'd have some kind of chance if Jigsaw had decided to recruit some vampires or something. Savior chuckled to himself, a chuckle that turned into a painful cough.

Right. Deadly poison. Fun for the whole family...

As Savior abruptly caught his foot on an upturned floorboard, and with a surprised gasp he pitched forward. It would have almost been comical, but in the end his fall just hurt.

And as Savior lay on the ground, he suspected that he was going to be envying this simple pain before all was said and done.

If only Raven could see him now...

Raven...

Pain. It wasn't just physical.

* * *

Robin's humanity (in a non-enhanced sense) was a factor he was sometimes proud of and sometimes annoyed by.

This was one of the latter times. Batman had trained him to operate under a wide spectrum of positions, but you never really realized how annoying some of them were before you were locked in an old hotel transformed into a cavalcade of death traps without any of your normal equipment. Or hidden equipment. Or backup hidden equipment. The human body was an amazing tool, but it had limitations no matter what training you subjected it to.

Said annoyance was compounded by the fact all of his teammates had been depowered as well, hence rendering them "useless" in turn. Robin was far from the type to consider power as worth, but when your teammates could usually blast through obstacles or call upon highly versatile abilities to aid in tasks, and they suddenly didn't have them...annoying.

And the third strike was that for all of Robin's abilities, he had no real clue what he was supposed to do. Oh, it could have been worse. He could have been stuck in this situation all by himself, or have had it be his first time exposed to the strange "fiction layering" that the chaos forces manifested. That would have been considerably more dangerous for him (and it was dangerous enough already).

But all the same, Robin wished he had a better grasp on the situation. Yes, most of Jigsaw's victims didn't have any idea what was going on, but in a way that made it worse. Like the yellow brick road dead-ending in this room. What did it mean? Was he supposed to find something, or look somewhere else? And would he recognize what he was supposed to find?

Robin found himself missing Edward Nygma. At least Robin had his rhythm down.

All right, the trail led to a supposedly empty room (well, save another caged-off security camera). What did it mean? Robin theorized, for the sake of having one, that he was meant to find something. All right, consider Jigsaw's usual victims. They likely didn't have the brainpower or the self-control to solve complicated puzzles...likely. So whatever he was supposed to find was probably simple.

Or he was being tricked into thinking that way to set himself up. Or one of the others up.

Damn it. Robin wished he'd actually taken the time to watch some of these films.

Of course, why would he?

Did Jigsaw know that? Was he smart enough to be aware of his own fictional...

Enough. He didn't have time to naval gaze. Okay, he'd search the room...unless...

Robin sighed to himself. Better be sure.

Gauntlet and Terra were two doors down from Robin when he exited the room, Terra standing off to the side as Gauntlet prepared to lever the door open.

"Find a..."

"EEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK!" Terra screamed, jumping from the sudden voice, which made Gauntlet recoil away from the door before he could open it.

"...sorry. But try not to be so high strung Terra." Robin said as Terra looked at her leader, holding her hand to her chest.

"...hah...kinda...hard." Terra gasped, feeling her heart slamming in her chest.

"You found a wire?"

"Yeah. Was about to open it. And hope we don't get a face full of chlorine gas or something." Gauntlet said. Robin was about to reply when he heard it.

"...rra! Are you okay?" Beast Boy said as he hobbled around the corner.

"She's fine." Robin said. "Be careful Gar. You don't want to open the wound again."

"Yeah but...yeah..." Beast Boy said quietly.

"Uh guys? Door still needs to be opened." Gauntlet pointed out.

"Right." Robin replied, as he got Terra and Beast Boy out of the way.

Once again, the Titans' caution proved beneficial: a second after Gauntlet had knocked the door open several darts struck and shattered themselves on the wall behind the door frame. Robin's checking of the room revealed a now-empty launching mechanism set into the wall, amidst the usual dirt and mess.

"...Rob, Tara, see if there was a certain reason why he rigged this door...did you find any other rigged doors, at that?"

"This was the first." Gauntlet said: indeed, Terra still had her own wood piece.

"Right. Check the room. Gar, we need to talk."

"Tim, I didn't eat your leftover mashed potatoes." Beast Boy said in an attempted joke that probably set a new world record for lameness.

Robin let him have it anyway. He didn't like thinking about any form of death at the moment.

* * *

Beast Boy would normally feel great when Robin came to him for help. It wasn't a common occurrence: usually Robin was giving him orders.

But the quick series of questions Robin had asked just reminded Gar Logan how bad their situation was: they were stuck in a dangerous game and Robin only had a basic grasp of the rules, while he, while not a dunce, didn't even begin to come close to Robin's skill in proper, tactical thinking. Still, it was good to know that Robin wasn't blundering on ahead, so self-satisfied with his leader position that he thought it would suffice for any situation.

At least not yet. The longer they stayed in the horror atmosphere though...

Oh yeah, and the whole poison thing. Couldn't forget that.

And so, as Robin went back to the yellow paint room and Beast Boy began returning to the starting room to check on his fellows, he found himself slowing down and staring at the security camera that was facing the elevators. The elevators that had claimed Scalpel, and caused several of his other teammates to be risking their lives searching for some immutable thing.

The camera that allowed Jigsaw to watch over his game, like it was any other sporting event on TV.

"...hey!" Beast Boy yelled up at the camera. "Hey! Can you hear me!"

"...oh great, Noel's infected him." Gauntlet said as he peered out of the room, drawn by the noise and observing Beast Boy yelling at the camera.

"What is he doing?" Terra asked, joining him.

"Finding a release." Gauntlet replied. "Normally I'd suggest he get laid, but...probably more harm then good here." Gauntlet said as he went back into the room.

"Hey! John! JOHN!" Beast Boy yelled. "It's not going to change what happened! Jill's still going to have miscarried! It was a terrible tragedy, but no amount of knife chairs and barbed wire is going to take it back! It's done! You can't change the past! Hell, I speak from personal experience!" Beast Boy yelled, having experienced a little time travel in his, er, time. "I mean, what MORE could you have done? She wanted to help! Even if you'd know what would happen...could you have convinced her? And...you drove her away! Maybe that addict killed your kid, but YOU decided everything that came after that! And...really...nothing's going to change...can't you just...just..." Beast Boy trailed off.

"I think that if you could speak reason to him..." Robin said, now standing besides Beast Boy. "There wouldn't be so many damn sequels."

"You don't know Hollywood." Beast Boy replied with a tired sourness.

* * *

As it turned out, while the cameras had no sound, it was due to choice rather then design, as Raven had found out when Jigsaw had flipped a switch and Beast Boy's yelling voice had filled the dark room. John had listened to him rant for several seconds before turning it back off. His expression never changed.

"He's right you know." Raven said.

"Don't confuse yourself. I know everything he said about my past is true, but what you fail to realize is that it does not matter in these circumstances." Jigsaw said, not looking at Raven. "All that should be on your mind is how to survive."

"Sorry. We're not wired that way." Raven said. "Otherwise my friends would have just cut my head off when my father corrupted me. Or run the other way when...a lot of different things showed up. It's like I said John. We're not your usual victims."

"Then you'd better pray your boyfriend or the others value your life more than you do."

"I'm not the one who will need prayer if I don't make it." Raven said.

"...we'll see." Jigsaw said with a brief chuckle. Raven had no further reply.

* * *

"...I have come to the realization of something terrible." Gauntlet said.

"What?" Terra replied, as she pushed through the rotten clothing pile in the corner, making sure it wasn't hiding anything. As it turned out, the trap room had approximately jack and shit inside it, just like all the previous rooms. Left with nothing else to do, Terra and Gauntlet had moved on to the next room, which didn't seem ready to let up on the streak.

"My trap...supposedly the way to get out was to cut the key out of Star's leg. I decided that was unacceptable and found an alternate route that got me out and kept her alive." Gauntlet said grimly. "But...if I'd been a wholly different person and we'd done the trap the 'proper' way...then Starfire would likely have been too weak from blood loss to do...much of anything."

"...which means she couldn't have climbed the cage and gotten those antidotes." Terra said. "Which means we'd all be worse off...so, that means you actually did your trap properly...?"

"Maybe, but I just realized...I thought I'd found a way around his edict, Tara." Gauntlet said. "But considering what went down...what if my alternate way was...the "right" way?"

"...but he gave you no real indication except...oh." Terra said, as she figured it out. If Jigsaw had arranged a trap so that Gauntlet was supposedly supposed to zig, and Gauntlet had zagged...and things had worked out for the better BECAUSE Gauntlet had zagged...

"He knew. Damn it all, I think he knew. In advance. I didn't find a back door, I went down his planned route." Gauntlet said. "Which means...I have no clue whether to zig, or to zag because I'd normally zig. If that makes sense."

"Uh...then...go in a straight line?" Terra offered.

"And your old man too." Gauntlet said, turning towards the door.

"...what?" Terra said, confused.

"...oh. Sorry. I was certain Noel was going to come in and make a crack about the whole direction metaphor...that's not like him."

"Well, he is checking for death traps. Maybe he's not in the mood to throw insults your way."

"Oh please. Noel once took a break from fighting Count Von Weird's Ninja-Dinosaurs to take a crack at me. He has the scars to prove it."

"...I...don't recall that particular battle."

"You were on your cross country thing."

"Oh...geez. Noel IS an asshole."

"Maybe. But he's our asshole. Er...you know what I mean. He hasn't screamed in agony yet has he?"

"I think I would have heard that."

"...we're going to make it." Gauntlet said. "We've already gotten three of us cured. Really...it's just Scarface minus the Ventriloquist."

"Huh?" Terra said.

"I keep thinking it." Gauntlet said. "...I'm almost starting to convince myself."

* * *

Despite their situation, Beast Boy found himself surprised when he saw the, well, saws.

Circular buzzsaws to be precise. Strange, despite their name, the _Saw_ films didn't have a large amount of them. Then again, you probably couldn't sell a horror series called _Various Scavenged Miscellaneous Objects Which Are Usually Pointy Built Into Deathtraps._

So seeing the saws was a bit strange. The fact that they were impaled into a door was what was really eye-catching. Particularly because Beast Boy was certain someone would have mentioned them if they had been there earlier: Beast Boy had spotted them from down the hall. Well, in a sense: what Beast Boy had actually seen at first was the open door with the scythe sticking out of it. After he'd quickly checked into the starting room and noted no change for Starfire or Sophie, Gar had gone to investigate, primarily because Noel was supposedly checking this hallway, and Gar didn't see him anywhere. The room the door-scythe emerged from was empty though, and it was while checking the rest of the hallway that Gar had found the saw-door.

What REALLY made it strange was that the door was closed. Why would Jigsaw stick some saw blades into a random door? Beast Boy decided to find out, and carefully took hold of the doorknob, noticing up close the faint glistening liquid on the saw blades. Gar doubted said liquid was polish: saw blades could make a useful weapon, if one didn't have a good reason not to touch them.

The door had a wire. Or more precisely, _had_ a wire: Beast Boy opened it without triggering anything. Apparently said trigger wire was why there were saw blades in the door.

And it was in there Beast Boy found Noel, his back to him, the white haired teenager leaning on the wall with one hand and furiously running his other hand through his hair.

Beast Boy coughed lightly, and Savior jerked around.

"Man, and I thought my girlfriend was jumpy." Beast Boy said.

"Oh, B." Savior said. "I was just thinking a moment...uh, the door was rigged. Shot the saw blades across the entrance of the room when I triggered the wire. Since I wasn't standing there, hit the door, uh...I managed to get this." Savior said, picking up his chair leg and showing it to Beast Boy. "Was going to stick one on it, make a weapon..."

"But you saw there was liquid on them?"

"Yeah."

"And assumed it was poison?"

"Probably."

"And you decided to close the door and have a think?"

"Try and...think of another way to get the saw blade out. You know, we...I just..." Noel said. "We need to do our best here. Really...can't have others worrying about us. Surely they can do it...whatever it is...but we...not so sure..."

"Come off it Noel. It's all right for you to be scared about Raven. I know where Tara is, and I'm still scared."

"...I just...why did...I can understand Cyborg...he's mostly metal, lot of traps wouldn't work on him like us, he could get around things and...such... but...Raven...no powers? Not a lot of help...in a way...so...why...?" Savior said, as he again ran his hand through his hair.

"Jigsaw's got a reason. The only thing we can do is survive his other, well, reasons."

"...no reason in them." Savior said, and then coughed into his hand. Beast Boy's eyes widened.

"Noel...?"

"I'm fine."

"Noel..."

"I'm FINE. I'll let you know when it gets worse then a cough." Savior said. "Unless you know something more about the..."

And once again Terra's scream ripped through the hallway. Beast Boy was gone so fast that he almost left a smoke outline.

Noel stared for a few seconds, then picked up his chair leg and followed.

* * *

Fortunately, Terra was not dead or hurt. Physically anyway.

Mentally was another story. Because she'd found one of the rooms was not empty after all.

And after seeing what was in it, Robin dearly wished it was.

"...oh damn." Robin said, as he approached the form in the middle of the room. Said room reeked of blood, and there was a large dried pool of the liquid around the upright table the form was strapped to.

Well, strapped was mostly the wrong term. The figure was only bound to the upright table by one pair of restraints, which locked her right leg to the table. What kept her upright was the massive piece of stone attached to a pole on the ceiling. Which had swung down and smashed right into her, reducing her chest to a shattered pulp and essentially squashing her against the table, like a fly swatted against a wall with a frying pan.

And so Terra had found her broken form when she'd opened the latest door she'd tried. She was currently burying her face in Gauntlet's shoulder, quietly sobbing from the shock. Robin didn't blame her. Not all of his teammates were cut out for the messes of life.

Beast Boy arrived then, making his own exclamations of shock, but Robin was already repressing his. There was a reason this body had been left here. Why?

The truth became apparent to Robin within moments, as he stepped closer to the failed test subject...and realized he knew her. From the proper angle, he could make out her dark red and gold costume, her blood-streaked blonde hair, and her clear golden mask, which did nothing to hide the last expression of dull horror and pain transfixed on her face.

"...oh...damn." Was all Robin could say (again). "...Bette."

"Who?" Savior said, having arrived when Robin wasn't looking, as he moved around the other part of the weight that had crushed the life from the teenage girl in the room to take his own closer look.

"Bette. Bette Kane." Robin said.

"What? Bette?" Beast Boy said, as he briefly took a break from comforting Terra as he went to check himself. His stricken face fell when he saw the female as well. "...aw no. No, NO."

"Did we know her?" Gauntlet asked quietly.

"She was a Californian based vigilante. Called herself Flamebird. Robin...inspired her." Savior said quietly. "She helped us out a few times, during the big group efforts. Damn it...why is she here?"

"I don't know. B?" Robin asked.

"I...I don't know. She's one of our honoraries, but so are lots of...I mean she's not known for associating with us...she doesn't operate near us, why would, she's only really connected to Robin I...Robin."

"Yeah?"

"No...Robin. It's you. She's...like you." Beast Boy said. "...I think she may have been a...warmup."

"...a warmup?" Robin said with cold bitterness. He hadn't known Flamebird well, but he knew enough, and even if he didn't, no one deserved to die like this. No one.

"Guys, found something." Savior said, as he came back to Flamebird's table, revealing a scuffed tape recorder. "Tape's still in there."

Robin took the tape recorder, turning it on first before he realized he'd have to rewind it, which he did. Terra had by then calmed down a touch, though it was clear by her expression she wanted to leave the room, close the door, and forget what she'd seen here. Robin, on the other hand, wanted to know more.

"Hello Flamebird." The tape said. "Throughout your life, you haven't appreciated your life so much as you've taken advantage of it. You constantly strive to be the best at anything you do, but only for titles and reputation, as though life wouldn't be worth living without them. You've become blind to the value of your life in itself, and instead focus only on the awards and recognition your abilities can amass for you. By only striving for your name, you've ignored everything else your life has to offer. Can you really say your life is worth more than your accomplishments as an athlete? It's time to put you to the test. There is a large block hanging in front of you: it will be released in 3 minutes and will crush the life out of you if you cannot escape. The only way to release your restraints is to press the two switches located below the footrest, just below your ankles. The lances next to you are long enough to reach the switches... but only if you use them to stab through your feet and through the holes in the footrest. Which do you value more, Flamebird? Your abilities or your life? Make your choice quickly."

The tape ended there. Robin stared at it a moment, and then heard a small gasp. Sophie had made her way from the starting room, and was standing in the doorway, her hands covering her mouth. And considering that Sophie normally worked as an undertaker, that said something about the gruesomeness of the scene.

Savior walked over to her, explaining what they'd found in calm whispers. Robin glanced at Savior's movement, and then tossed the tape away as he bent down to take a closer look at Flamebird's dead body, trying to push away his anger and sadness, not to mention his gorge, and adapt his clinical investigation mindset. He hadn't seen it before due to all the blood, but now Robin found the ugly wound in Flamebird's left foot. And the fact the boards beneath her feet had been removed: in the blood-caked hollow beneath, Robin found two switches. One did nothing when pressed. The other released the right pair of restraints, leaving Flamebird's body slumped/pressed against the weight that had killed her.

"...she tried." Robin said as he stood back up. "She must have gotten the rod through one foot, but...maybe she hesitated too much. Or maybe she couldn't take the pain. She was a good kid but...she wasn't hardened. It...maybe..." Robin trailed off, remembering Flamebird's bubbly and friendly personality. She had some steel in her, but nowhere near enough that was needed to willingly mutilate oneself to escape. Robin tried to picture it: holding the spiked rod, trying to force it through meat and bone...

But she'd tried. And failed. And the weight had swung down.

God damn it all.

"...the body's still fresh. This can't be any older then a day." Robin said, going back into a clinical mindset. "Maybe she was going to visit us...got sucked in. Or...I don't know."

"Or maybe she was selected as a testing ground for us." Sophie said, as she approached the body. Her own brief examinations turned up nothing new. "...there might be other metas around the building too."

"Alive or dead?"

"What usually happens to guinea pigs?" Beast Boy said.

Robin didn't answer. Instead he and Beast Boy carefully removed the body from the killing weight as best they could, and Robin covered her form with her bloodsoaked cape.

And then the Titans left. There was nothing else they could do here. Except learn. And it was a lesson none of them wanted.

"...on another note." Robin said quietly. "I found our way out."

* * *

"...it was that simple?" Gauntlet asked, as he stared at the trap door on the floor. Robin had found it almost immediately: it had been under the bed. Once Robin had been assured that moving the bed likely wouldn't trigger something unpleasant in another room, he'd quickly overturned the bedframe and found the exit for them, set into the floor.

"I suspect that was the trick. Indicated, but not spelled out in its obviousness." Robin said. "Stand back, I'm going to test it."

"There won't be anything." Beast Boy said. "This is our route. He wouldn't rig it."

And indeed Beast Boy was right: opening the trap door just caused a ladder to slide down into another dimly lit room.

Robin still had Savior and Gauntlet hold him by his ankles and lower him down so he could check said room as best he could. But all he found was another filthy hotel room, with no obvious tricks and one way out.

"All right. Here's what we're going to do." Robin said after he'd been pulled back up. "Starfire's too badly hurt to be moved. We're going to find the safest room we can and hide her in that. And then we're going to move on ourselves. It's a risk, but I consider the other options moreso. Any suggestions?"

"Just a few." Beast Boy said. "...do you think we can drag that mattress?"

* * *

"This is really...not necessary." Starfire said quietly: she had finally regained consciousness as the Titans prepared to move her. They were doing so now, as Robin, Savior, and Sophie dragged the mattress down the hallway to the cleaner-then-what-passed-for-the-norm-here room Savior had indicated he'd found. Gauntlet followed, being the one to actually carry the alien.

"Not from where we stand, Kory." Gauntlet said, as he stopped and watch the three Titans try and wrestle the mattress through the door. Beast Boy came up behind him, having retrieved the other wooden chair from the scythe-room.

"...you will be alright?"

"Sure! It'll be just like an Indiana Jones adventure! Except with less Harrison Ford." Gauntlet said, as he bit back the last bit of the sentence: "and more hell".

The Titans eventually got the mattress in and on the ground, and Starfire was placed on it.

"All right Kory, once we leave, jam the chair under the door knob. It'll keep anyone who comes alone...busy." Robin said. "...wait, are you going to be able to crawl across the room with your knee..."

"Got it covered." Gauntlet said, as he produced a mildewy but thick pillow and gave it to Starfire.

"Take this too." Savior said, pulling off his jacket and giving it to Starfire in turn. "It still has armor. Hopefully enough, if someone decides to shoot through the door or...something."

"Noel you may..."

"You need it more." Savior replied with a quiet finality. Starfire decided arguing was pointless and put the jacket aside.

"...all right Kory. You know our...usual secrets. We'll get back as soon as possible...hopefully with a way out." Robin said. "You be careful."

"You as well, Timothy." Starfire said.

Robin knew it was never a good thing when Starfire referred to him by his full name.

But closing the door on her, as she watched them leave, seemed far worse in the end.

* * *

Jigsaw gave no indication to what he thought as the Titans returned to the room with the trap door, some of them armed with other pieces of Noel's broken chair, as Robin started climbing down the ladder to the next floor.

"They're adapting." Raven said. "You aren't the first who's tried to kill us all. You're not even the first this week."

"I'm not trying to kill you. I'm just putting you in a position where you must decide what your own life is worth." Jigsaw said. "I find it strange that for someone who is so strongly judgmental of me, you seem to have little interest in how to save yourself. You still haven't even asked how you're supposed to get out of there."

"I know more about salvation then you likely ever will." Raven said. "They'll survive you easily. We've dealt with everyone from humans to gods. You're nothing."

Jigsaw emitted another low chuckle.

"I hope they do survive. They're such excellent test subjects. But they will feel pain, and they will shed blood if they want to make it out alive. Oh yes… there will be blood."

"Not necessarily whose you think." Raven said. "Do you know where the term checkmate comes from? From the Persian term Shāh Māt. Roughly translated, 'the king is defeated'."

"I'm no king, but you need to understand that you are not playing against anyone. If you want to win your game, you just have to follow the rules." John said. "The game's only just begun."


	5. Foul Play

Chapter 5: Foul Play

"_He who pretends to look on death without fear lies. All men are afraid of dying, this is the great law of sentient beings, without which the entire human species would soon be destroyed." _

-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"...don't ever laugh as a hearse goes by...for you may be the next to die..." Savior hummed softly to himself as the small group walked down the hallway.

"Could you please sing something less morbid?" Sophie asked.

"...I learned the truth, at 17, that love was meant for beauty queens..." Savior hummed in the same dead tone.

"Is it too late to switch groups?" Sophie asked.

"Don't ask me Sophie. I just work here." Robin said, as he led the two down the hallway.

* * *

_A few minutes earlier..._

"The stairs are intact down here." Robin said, returning to the room that the Titans had entered through the trap door. "They're on both sides of the floor actually."

"So which one are we going to take?" Terra asked.

"...that's the problem. There's two paths of the yellow droppings. Each going to one stairway. And no indication beyond that." Robin said. "I hate to make it, but considering we're on the clock here, I suggest we split up."

"Right. Velma, you and Shaggy go left. I'm gonna somewhere with Daphne for about fifteen minutes. Good luck with Old Man McGurk." Gauntlet said.

"This old man is considerably worse then some greedy twit in a costume." Beast Boy replied.

"At least they have stairs down here." Savior said quietly.

"But we're not protected." Gauntlet replied. Noel gave the blonde haired teen an odd look, but said nothing in return.

"Two groups. Noel, Sophie, you're with me. You three are the other group." Robin said, indicating Terra, Gauntlet, and Beast Boy. "We'll each take a stairway. Hopefully we'll both find the correct path, and stick to it. Come back if you find something if you think it's doable, but remember we're under a time limit. Has anyone felt anything in regards to the poison yet?"

"I've coughed a few times. That might be an early sign." Savior said.

"Has anyone else coughed inexplicably?" Robin asked. The answer was no. "Keep that in mind. What else is there, BB?"

"Jigsaw indicated we'd all have our own traps. Probably why Scalpel went into the elevator." Beast Boy said. "There'll be a clear marker or obvious sign for who's supposed to go in what. Don't hold back if you can, but remember, the traps will supposedly be designed so that us helping each other does little."

"Our help did something for Kory." Terra pointed out.

"Hence little." Beast Boy said. "Any other questions?"

"What about those unlocked doors up on the sixth floor?" Savior asked. "The yellow paint led to the only route. Our attempts to deviate just led us to some more death traps...and whatnot." Savior said quietly, the gruesome fate of Flamebird still fresh. "And we didn't find anything except some slightly more useful junk. Should we bother looking around any more?"

"Probably a bad idea." Beast Boy replied. "Jigsaw generally tells you where to go. The trapdoor was hidden a bit...but just a bit. If he tells you where to go, that's where you'll need to go. Everything else is likely either a waste of time or a risk of death. The only place we're likely to find possible alternate routes is in the actual traps. And they're not so...easy to spot."

"But they're there?" Robin asked.

"They can be."

"Remember that. And remember to be careful guys. We lucked out so far in our wanderings. Might not have much luck left." Robin said. "And even if we have luck, we don't have time. Try and stick to the set path. And hope it ends well."

"Truly a rousing speech! I feel confident now!"

"Just make sure you're still feeling confident an hour from now Rob." Beast Boy said.

"If you're still alive." Savior added.

"Sarcasm is lost on you people."

"Who said you ever found it to begin with?" Robin said with a thin, forced smile. "Time to move out. Don't forget the rules."

* * *

Of course, Robin sometimes had trouble taking his own advice. No sooner had he and his companions set off (he'd gone right, while the others had gone left around the immediate corner to the stairs there) then he'd started trying the doorknobs, seeing if they were locked.

Some were. Some were wired: Robin didn't bother with them.

And one door...was partly open. Robin stopped in front of it.

"...why is this door open?"

"You're asking the wrong person." Savior said.

"I don't see any indication that we're supposed to go through that door Robin." Sophie said: indeed, their yellow path curved away from the door and down the hallway the door faced.

"And the stairs are still intact." Savior said as he skipped ahead a bit to take a look.

But despite himself, Robin opened the door. It was not wired.

And stepping inside the room, Robin quickly realized why all the doors on the left side of the hallway were locked. In fact, if he'd examined them closer, he would have realized they were actually fused into their frames, making opening them impossible.

A blast of cold air hit Robin as he entered, the temperature abruptly dropping a few dozen degrees. His breath misted out in front of him: it was clear that this room was refrigerated. Quite possibly a great degree less then it was now, as the metal covering the floor was streaked with fading frost.

As Robin abruptly found himself looking at...himself, as an ice-streaked piece of glass reflected back a faint, distorted version of his visage. He recoiled a moment in surprise, and then glanced around some more. More glass walls. The room was full of them, all of them set at various angles. Robin couldn't be sure, but it seemed like said glass continued onward for a considerable bit: all the walls of the previously individual hotel rooms had been ripped out to put this maze into place. The refrigerated glass maze.

"What are we doing in here Robin? We can't get distracted." Savior said.

"...this might be one of our traps."

"I didn't see anyone's name on it."

"...I'll just make sure." Robin said, as he stepped into the glass maze.

The refrigerated and bladed glass maze, as Robin tried to carefully step around the first panel and found that the edges were sharpened to a razor point. That, and the way the frost (which was starting to fade, but was still there in a considerable amount) caused all the glass walls and segments to blend into each other and distort the route, made Robin slip around the first corner of the assemblage with the greatest of care. The coldness of the glass was evident even without the fading frost on them.

"If you don't find anything obvious around there, come back Robin. You can easily get lost." Savior said.

"Yes I know. Just...check...ing." Robin said as he carefully made his way down the slight passage and peered around the next corner.

And saw the blood.

And the figure lying on the ground, motionless.

"...damn." Robin said, as he slipped around the bladed corner and crept over to the body, grimacing as his boot stepped on the frozen but beginning to un-thaw blood, a low dull squelching crunch coming from beneath his foot. The figure was face down, blood having pooled and congealed around him: Robin could see the smears of said blood on the glass walls and corners behind the corpse, indicating he'd come that way. And from the several shards of glass Robin could see impaled in the figure's form, apparently he'd tried to take a few shortcuts through a panel or two. It hadn't paid off.

Robin knelt down and touched the body. Frozen solid. Robin sighed, looking at the young figure's form. He'd have lifted him up to take a look at his face, but the blood had sealed it against the ground. All Robin could make out was the back of his black cargo pants tied up with two belts, his black short sleeved shirt, and white sneakers, as well as the golden streaks in his black hair.

He'd been so close to the exit. Had he known that? Had he died despairing over it? Or with the faint consolation that he'd never given up, despite his wounds?

"Robin!" Savior yelled.

"I'm okay! Hold on one more minute." Robin called back, as he looked up. Apparently, with the unknown victim's death, the central refrigeration that had claimed his life had been shut down, and while the glass walls of the maze were still frosted, the thawing had made them easier to see through. Which let Robin see through the maze, and its center.

Which Robin was able to pinpoint by the black and brown smears. Though he had to go over and wipe away some of the frost to get a clearer view. Apparently the center of the maze had been subjected to a massive blast of heat, to the point where the glass walls has clearly softened and been bent away from the heat emitter. Likely the corpse near Robin: he'd detected no burns on its form, which suggested that the heat had come from his body, an emitter meta. He'd tried to just burn his way out and failed. And then, from the slight distortions Robin could see in the many layered panels of glass across the room, he'd also tried just ramming his way through a few of the panels. Neither had worked.

Robin checked for another moment, but found no tape. Perhaps it had been melted in the initial heat eruption, leaving precise details on what this victim has endured a mystery.

"ROBIN!"

"...yeah. Coming back now." Robin said, as he left the body. _Godspeed you poor bastard._

"Another test run?" Savior asked when Robin had worked his way back through the glass maze, Sophie standing in the doorway. Strangely, Noel now had a small black flashlight.

"Yeah. This place was likely chilled to below zero. He didn't make it." Robin said.

"Anyone we know?"

"...I don't know. Maybe in another life." Robin said. "Where did the flashlight come from?"

"While we were waiting, Sophie insisted on scouting ahead. She went down the stairs. Found this flashlight sitting on the floor in the entrance. She also found that that's as far as the stairs go: they've been cut out and removed like on the sixth. She tried to take a look with her flashlight, but she's not sure just when the stairs start again. Second floor, possibly. Still too far to jump, and there might be other unpleasant things."

"And speaking of unpleasant things." Sophie said. "I found something else as well."

Robin didn't ask. He suspected he knew.

And he was right: after he and his two companions had resumed following their yellow dot path, as they headed down the stairs and took their own looks down into the deep shadows below where said stairs had been removed (and neither of them had been able to determine much either), Robin found himself looking at another door on the fourth floor. But there was no mistaking this room.

The yellow dots stopped at it.

And his name was painted above it.

* * *

Beast Boy, Gauntlet, and Terra hadn't found anything quite as grim, though they had found something.

The route they had taken had stairs that led down to the fourth floor as well. Unlike the other group's, their stairs kept going down.

And it was obvious why: as they stepped onto the fourth floor, they found a distinct lack of floor: a giant chunk of the hallway had been torn up. The three could clearly see the third floor through the hole, a few scattered pieces of debris the only remains of what was now a gap in front of them.

"So the trap is...gravity?" Gauntlet said, peering down through the hole. "I think he's running out of ideas."

"That's not the trap. We're being herded." Beast Boy said. "There's no yellow dots for one. And that drop would be hard pressed to kill us unless we jumped off head first. And look. No doors." Beast Boy said, indicating the hotel rooms that could no longer be accessed due to the destroyed floor: they indeed had no doors, and from what Gauntlet could see of the room from that angle, they didn't have much of anything in them. "We're not supposed to head this way. I think I can see the dots down on the floor below. We have to go down there."

"Then I guess we..." Terra said, and trailed off as she heard footsteps. Footsteps approaching them.

Gauntlet, who normally would have a clever comment, settled this time for a crude expletive Terra didn't realize he knew.

As Savior came around the corner at the other end of the hallway. He was clearly a touch startled himself.

"...oh. You guys." Savior said. "Uh...doing okay?"

"Well all right...except we split up ten minutes ago! How did you...and we...oh god, he's taking architecture tips from Mad Mod!" Gauntlet said.

"...right." Savior said, not knowing what Gauntlet was talking about and not wanting to. "We found Robin's trap."

"...you get a look at it?"

"We haven't opened the door yet. I wanted to check and make sure there was nothing else. There isn't...at least obvious markers. That likely means there's nothing else on this floor, right B?"

"...yeah. Be careful if you decide to keep looking around Noel."

"Understood." Savior said. "...well...see you later."

"...yeah." Beast Boy said, as Savior turned around and began leaving.

"Oh yeah, we found a flashlight too." Savior said, turning around. "Was lying in waiting in front of our stairs. Just so you know."

"Um... y'know, Mad Mod. British guy. Makes things stop making sense or even obey the rules of Euclidean geometry?" Gauntlet said.

Savior gave Gauntlet a weary glance that basically said 'Why are you still on this line of thought?'

"I'll just shut up now."

"You'll probably need it for something, if it was just lying around. Hang onto it." Beast Boy said.

"Gotcha." Savior replied, as he turned and left, not looking back.

He didn't want to give the wrong impression: that he feared he'd never see them again. In the same way, or any way.

"Back down the stairs. Next floor: Men's shoes, tools and hidden deathtraps." Gauntlet said as he, Beast Boy, and Terra headed down their continued stairs. Only to find they didn't continue very far: like the previous set of stairs, they stopped dead at the third floor, the remaining segments cut away and removed.

They also found their own flashlight.

"Here's hoping you don't explode to teach us to value life." Gauntlet said, as Beast Boy also checked the shadows below where the stairs had once been. Unlike the others, he found nothing below except more darkness. It seemed like every bit of the staircase on their side had been taken out from the third floor down.

"John wouldn't do that." Beast Boy replied.

"I'll take your word on it. I'm just being paranoid."

"That would probably be good here." Beast Boy said, as he came back into the hallway and the three began to make their way across the dingy floor, following the yellow dots. "Okay guys, if Robin found his trap, then odds are also good we'll..."

Beast Boy didn't even get to finish his sentence, as the three found the door with the name marked above it.

And Beast Boy's heart sank at the name.

TERRA.

"...I'll say one thing Jigsaw has on Mod, Mod never had the decency to label his death traps." Gauntlet said quietly, as the blonde stared at the terrible inevitability she'd finally been forced face to face with.

And as Terra began to emit a trembling whine of terror, the two male Titans looked at each other, wondering what to do.

And so neither saw the form in dark red, its face covered with a disturbingly realistic-looking pig mask, as it peered out of the stairwell at the three...and then vanished into the shadows.

* * *

"So...now what?" Sophie said: with Savior having reported on meeting his teammates and not much else, the three were left with Robin's door, and what lay beyond.

"...stay here. We can't get separated any more. If I'm not out in...20 minutes, assume I didn't make it." Robin said.

"Pshhhhaw. I bet it won't take ten." Savior said.

"Are you sure you don't want our help?"

"You might get in the way...but..." Robin said as he turned towards the door. "Savior, hold the flashlight and shine it in. I'll go in, take a brief scouting look...unless it's wired..." Robin said, as he seized the knob and slowly opened the door a crack, as Savior shone the flashlight along it.

There wasn't, as Robin opened the door into a pitch black room, something that took considerable effort: unlike the previous doors, this one was wholly made of metal and heavily set into the wall. Savior shone the flashlight in, but the beam didn't penetrate far and none of the three could make much out.

"That door doesn't speak well." Sophie said.

"I've got it." Savior said, as he stepped forward and rested his shoulder against the heavy door. "You know what to do Robin."

"All right then...one small step for man..." Robin said, as he carefully walked into the room, as Savior shifted his position to let Robin see where he was going...

As Robin's foot came down on it, and a dull cracking snap filled the room.

Too bad they hadn't been around when Scalpel had fallen prey to his trap. They'd just thought they needed to look for wires, and not, say, floor switches.

As the door abruptly jerked backwards and Savior yelled in surprise as he was forced back, the floor switch having triggered an automatic door closer. If Savior had been stuck between the door and its frame, he likely would have lost a limb, or worse. Instead, he was thrown back into the hallway, ramming into Sophie as the two tumbled down, the flashlight bouncing onto the floor.

Robin whirled around as the door slammed shut, and even as it did the overhead lights turned on, even as Robin heard a low rumbling click in the door. It had just locked itself.

He was on his own.

And Savior knew it, as he looked helplessly at the sealed door.

"...and one foot in the grave." He said.

* * *

Beast Boy would be the first to admit he wasn't exactly Casanova when it came to the ladies, but he'd figured he'd picked up enough from his failings and his teammates that he knew how to talk to his own girlfriend: when to encourage her, when to comfort her, when to let her find her own way...

...but what the hell did you say in this situation?

"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die..." Terra babbled, clinging to Beast Boy. Gauntlet felt the bitter acid creeping up his throat again. Terra just had to be the one to find Flamebird. True, she'd seen the traps' results on her friends, especially her boyfriend, but they'd survived. If they'd never found Flamebird, maybe it would have been different. But they had, and Terra had been bashed over the head with just what kind of ugly death awaited them if they failed. And just how hard the path to success was.

"...just keep your wits about you Terra. If you play by his rules, you'll win." Gauntlet said.

"Yeah Terra. This isn't like we're being imprisoned by Slade. He'd want us dead. Jigsaw...wants us better." Beast Boy said.

"Even if in his mind better means..." Gauntlet began, and stopped as he saw Beast Boy shaking his head.

"There'll be a tape. Listen carefully. He might hide an alternate or safer route in his words. And even if there isn't, if you just listen to what it says, you'll have a good chance to survive. You remember all those panic-tests Robin devised?

"You mean the ones we stopped running because Noel pushed them too far?" Terra said.

"...yeah. This is a good time to use them for a reason besides calling him an asshole." Beast Boy said.

"Ugh. I still can't play Duck Hunt." Rob said. "Terra, if you want, we'll come in with you."

Terra looked at Gauntlet, and then at Beast Boy.

"...he said there was no advantages, but he's not omnipotent." Beast Boy said. "I'll come in with..."

"No." Terra said. "I don't...want you getting hurt Gar. You still have yours...and Rob, after what you did...it wouldn't be fair. I'll...at least go in myself." Terra said, as she turned away, steeled herself for a moment, and then opened the door.

The rather heavy door: Terra had to put her shoulder into opening it. The room inside, much like Robin's, was dark and indistinct. Beast Boy played the flashlight through the door as well, but could see nothing except faded brown paint on distant walls.

And the tape recorder dangling from the ceiling a few steps into the room.

"...all right then, let's here what he has to say." Terra said, as she reached up.

As Beast Boy realized just what the position of the tape recorder could mean.

"TERRA CA-"

Too late.

Terra pulled on the tape recorder.

The wire snapped off the ceiling.

And gears inside the door activated, and as Terra whirled around the metal door slammed shut, a dull clanking noise echoing into both rooms as it locked.

"Aw no! Why didn't I see this FUCK!" Beast Boy said, as he ran up and began pounding on the door, yanking at the now motionless handle. Gauntlet kept quiet, staring at the door for a moment before glancing around, looking for a way to help.

He quickly realized that in that regard, he was locked out as well.

"NO! NO!" Terra shrieked on the other end of the door, as she too pounded on it. But her efforts were as in vain as her love's: they couldn't even hear each other. The nature of such soundproofing was lost on Terra though, as she realized she could see. When she'd pulled on the tape trigger wire, the lights had gone on.

She really didn't want to, but her only other option was to pound at the door until she died of poison or spontaneously developed unblocked phasing powers, and so she turned around.

It didn't take her long to regret it.

If she'd been of a sounder mind, Terra might have deduced that the room she was in had once been a bar. The furniture had been ripped up and removed a long time ago, but the room had a certain (long decayed) paint scheme, not to mention that the upper segment of the removed bar itself remained on the left wall's design, it's lightbulb-less fixtures shifted at odd angles from rust and decay

But all those details fell away compared to the floor, which was covered in upwards-pointing rusty nails and shards of broken glass. John McClane had thought he'd had it bad: the fact that Terra had something on her feet wouldn't help her at all. She whimpered: if she fell down...

Her tape. She'd dropped it when she'd run back to the door. Looking at the small device, she snatched it up. Part of her didn't want to listen to it. The other part was terrified of what could happen if she didn't. The latter won out.

"Hello Terra. For as long as you've been with the Titans, you've taken advantage of your allies' strengths and acceptance. There was a time when you would do anything to live another day, but now you have your teammates to pick up your slack. You sit comfortably in your tower with a sense of entitlement, as though existing is enough to warrant the luxuries you have. You seem to have forgotten how to move forward without someone else pushing you along or watching your back. Now we'll see if you still have the strength of will to survive." The tape said. "There are six keys hanging in this room; three will unlock the safe containing your antidote, and the other three will unlock the door behind you. However, you must be quick. The moment the door closed, vents in this room began pouring in a gaseous form of the nerve toxin you've already been exposed to. It will quicken its effects until you've inoculated yourself. You had better get moving."

Terra stared at the tape player, and then at the field of sharp demise before her. She had to navigate that? She had to find six keys (oh look, there they were, all hanging on strings around the room, and oh look there was the locked box the antidote was in, she could see it on the other end of the wall now)? While there was more poison...speeding her end, while trying to transverse...with one slipup...

Terra fell to her knees and screamed, voicing helpless terror at the ceiling and walls.

They swallowed the wails, and offered nothing in return.

* * *

Neither did the camera, as Raven stared at it from her chair...as the door to the room opened, the flare of light blinding her. As she blinked her vision back to normal, Jigsaw put his pig mask down on the desk with the televisions, glancing at Raven and then at the TV, where Terra lamented soundlessly in despair.

"Are you happy with yourself?" Raven asked.

"Once again, this isn't about me." John replied.

"That girl was thrown out on the streets with amnesia, no idea how to control her powers, no help, nothing. She scratched and clawed her way across several states, avoiding rape and worse. And when we found her, we just managed to keep her from fleeing due to her trauma, and ending up in a far worse way. Not appreciate her life? She knows the hardness of it, maybe even more then I do!" Raven snapped. "At least I had help with my burdens! She had nothing! She's had her lessons! And yet here you are, thinking you have some sort of divine knowledge to hoist another one on her! Not about you? THIS IS ENTIRELY ABOUT YOU."

John had no reply, as he looked at her, that same cold inquisitiveness in his eyes. Raven was aware getting angry was probably counterproductive, but at the moment she couldn't help herself. It was one thing to seek the death of her friends, she'd seen plenty of that, but the circumstances of this event, and the motivations behind it...

Anyone sane would take offense.

"...never forget the rules of pawns, Kramer. It would not do you well." Raven said.

"That will only help you if you actually intend to survive this game. You have to prove you want to first."

"Survival is irrelevant." Raven said. "We play to win."

"The two are mutually exclusive."

"You keep thinking that." Raven said, as she turned her head away. "You keep thinking that."

* * *

"Damn it." Savior said, as he probed the door to the room Robin had found himself locked in. He'd have a hard time getting it open if he had the Shimmer. "Should have seen that coming."

"The story of my life." Sophie said, as she sat, leaning against the wall. "Now what?"

"...we wait for him." Savior said. "Like the Marines. Don't leave a comrade behind."

"Semper fi."

"Semper fidelis, actually. 'Always faithful.'" Savior said.

"Yes, yes."

Silence filled the hallway.

"...you know, this force is going to be hard pressed finding something to use next year. I think we've gone through just about..."

"AURRAAGGHHH!" Sophie suddenly hissed, as she forced herself up. "I can't take it! I can't just sit here and gawk at a locked door!"

"Well what are you going to..." Savior began, and his eyes widened as Sophie stood up and snatched away the chair leg slash lever slash general tool from where he had it tucked beneath his arm. "I don't think that will help getting through it either."

"I don't plan to just hit the door, it's solid steel or at least a very close approximation." Sophie said, as she raised her hand to her chin, gloved fingers caressing it as thoughts jumped from synapse to synapse. "My general mechanics are a little fuzzy, but don't doors unlock when you remove the handle?"

"Or they become impossible to open. I forget. I always just went for the hinges. Which are concealed here." Savior said, as he tried the handle. "Besides, this is also solid steel set into a reinforced door. Maybe if we had a crowbar..."

"What are the walls made of?"

Savior tapped on them.

"...not plaster. We're not getting in this room Sophie."

"So much for the iron door, wood walls routine. What about vents? Or through the floor?"

"Floor is right out, and vents? Probably rigged. Sophie, remember what Beast Boy said. Don't leave the path."

"And that's what the lunatic who wants to kill us all says. I say, there has to be something..." Sophie said, as she stalked down the hallway and grabbed ahold of the nearest door handle. Savior's eyes widened.

"SOPHIE DON'T JUST...!"

The door swung open...and nothing happened, as Sophie stalked inside. Savior sprinted over to the entrance...only to get violently pushed aside again as Sophie stalked out of the room.

"...Sophie...you're one of our THINKERS...why are you...not...thinking..." Savior trailed off, as he followed the angry woman as she moved towards the next door. He'd realized what was going on. Noel hadn't known Sophie as long as some of his fellows, but he'd had enough time to work out some of the layers of her. And he'd definitely seen enough of her to know she wasn't a mouse, not all the time. She was sharp, and could be cold in her calculations. To do something so hot headed...it was...

"It's got you Sophie. It's in your mind. The atmosphere." Savior said.

Fabricated.

Sophie turned her head towards her fellow Titan.

"I know." She admitted, quietly. "I guess...I couldn't fight it any longer. Sorry, Savior." She responded, modestly.

And she shoved the door open.

...nothing. While Savior occupied himself with trying to get his heart back into his chest after it had leapt into his mouth, Sophie once again stalked into the room, her eyes snapping around.

"This is a bad time to lay claim to an Idiot Ball Sophie." Savior said. "You need to resist. If you're getting dragged around now..."

"I've never done this before. Not like you. You all have survived it, at least once." Sophie rationalized, trying to convince herself more than anything. "It's having trouble with you, but with me...I'm fair game." She clasped her hands to her upper arms, trying to stop them from doing things.

"...right then. Well if it's decided to go after the weak link, I'll just rework the chain."

And Savior slipped around Sophie and wrapped her arms around her, pinning them to her side as he locked his fingers.

"Um...Noel, w-what are you doing?" Sophie asked, looking down at his linked hands.

"We're going back in the hallway, and we're staying in the hallway!" Savior said, as he tried to drag Sophie back into the hallway.

"N-noel, I wouldn't...!"

And then Sophie slashed her foot back, slammed her heel into Savior's shin, and raked her foot down it. Savior snarled in pain but held on.

"Not you I'm worried...about...!" Savior snapped, as he kept trying to drag Sophie back out the door...as Sophie shifted her weight, sending Noel sideways.

"Fight it harder Sophie!"

Sophie elbowed Noel in the gut.

"IT harder, not ME harder!"

Sophie tried to slam the back of her head into Noel's face, but Noel saw that coming and dodged, as the two continued to stagger around the room.

"How about you get the HELL OFF me, you controlling freak!" Sophie snarled as she bucked and thrashed, the two Titans lurching around the room.

"Believe me, this is no fun for me either!" Savior replied. "By the way, if you start getting turned on, that's probably the atmosphere-AUGH!" Savior yelled as Sophie managed to land a decent backwards kick to the groin. "I sure hope that was mostly the atmosphere too...!"

Sophie screamed in rage, her voice echoing down the hallway, as she violently jerked sideways...and the two Titans crashed through the room's left wall: not all the walls were reinforced as it turned out either, as they tumbled into another disgusting room, the rotten bed collapsing as they landed on it.

Savior suddenly had a VERY bad feeling, and let Sophie go. Sophie rolled over, pushing herself up...

As Savior punched her.

Sophie hit the mattress again, holding her face as she looked up at Savior with hurt eyes. Hurt, clear eyes.

"...sorry. I didn't know what else to do. I figured wrestling on a bed was...asking for trouble." Savior gasped.

"Ngh...No problem." Sophie replied quietly as she started to sit up. "I don't...think you broke anything." Sophie seethed as she lightly patted her sore cheek, the area starting to show red.

"You want a free shot?"

"No chance I could save it, could I?"

"...sure." Savior said, as he crept over to the door, trying to get his wind back. There was no wire laid across it. Sophie began brushing herself off, as Savior carefully opened the door, just to be safe.

"All right. We go back to the hallway. And we wait." Savior said.

"What about the atmosphere?"

"...It shouldn't have any power here. You know why? Because it's out of place." Savior said. "It's trying to shoehorn it's way into something where its normal tropes never happen. It's unneeded. It's forced." Savior growled. "Fuck it."

"So it thinks we're doing too well?" Sophie asks, her brow raising as she started to address her dress code, before repairing it so the next encounter would not leave her in a state of undress. "So...About my letter of resignation, I was thinking of enough severance pay to run, amble, to Canada...or the moon."

"...wait, wha...?" Savior said, pausing in the doorway

And then the lights flickered, sending dancing shadows across the room.

Sophie and Noel froze.

Savior waited for the snap, the whine, the sound of death...

...and waited.

And then his leg started to cramp from the awkward position it had frozen in. Sophie, meanwhile, let out a huge gust of air she'd found roiling in her lungs.

"Goddamn atmosphere." Savior said, as he left the room. "It's learning improper timing as well as proper."

"Is there really any time that..." Sophie said as she began leaving the room as well.

And stepped on the switch.

And as the familiar snapping noise echoed in Savior's ears, another echo shot through his mind.

_Don't leave the path..._

As the trap door opened beneath Sophie's feet, even as Savior started to move, charging towards her, leaping out, hitting the floor...

And grabbing empty air as Sophie vanished into the darkness, her scream slashing through Noel's ears, as sheer desperation flooded him, crushing every bit of logic and warning, as he reached deep into his guts and DEMANDED the Shimmer emerge.

The pain exploded through him with unbelievable intensity; he didn't even get to scream before he passed out.

* * *

Beast Boy sank to his knees, leaning against the door a bit as Gauntlet watched him. It allowed the teenager to see his green teammates shoulder's stiffen, before he abruptly pushed himself up.

"Let's go." Beast Boy said, as he began walking off.

"...yeah. She'll be fine." Gauntlet said. He was amazed that the ghost of Richard Nixon did not spontaneously appear and denounce him as a liar.

"Yeah, she will. Or...can't just sit around waiting. No time. It'll kill me." Beast Boy said as he rounded the corner: there were more yellow dots leading that way. Gauntlet suspected he wasn't talking about the poison he'd been injected with. "We need to try and..."

And there it was, at the end of the hallway. The second labeled door.

BEAST BOY.

"...you know, it's sorta weird how we aren't finding anyone else's door." Gauntlet said. "So nice for those chaos forces to nudge us in the right direction."

* * *

Apparently, the cameras in the room Jigsaw was in were designed to turn on if one of the "disobedience traps" activated, which had allowed Raven to watch Sophie's fall and Savior's frantic attempts to save her. Jigsaw had also watched, forever analyzing.

"I suppose you think him a failure." Raven said.

"I have a question for you, Raven: why is it that you think only of my actions and thoughts, rather than how you or your allies are supposed to survive?"

"Because I know them. And I know myself. You, no matter what you think, do not." Raven said. "They can only do, in the end, what they believe is best. And so can I. And if you were actually anywhere close to grasping what we are, John Kramer, you'd know exactly why I do not ask those questions."

"So then, tell me, how are you supposed to survive without knowing how to escape from your restraints or how to get your antidote?"

"Why John." Raven said, the ghost of a cocky smile on her face. "That would spoil the surprise."

* * *

Alone again, naturally. For Robin, it came easier then to some of the others. He'd been on his own before. During some bad times, and some good.

This was definitely going under the bad category, if only because he didn't know what was happening to his teammates. As for him, he'd been trained and been tried before. This was just the latest one.

Didn't stop it from being a winner.

With the lights on, said lights having turned on when his door closed, Robin could see why the door had been placed in the corner of the room. Because it hid the masses of barbed wire that had been strung across the center of it.

"...hmmmpph. Don't I at least warrant something original?" Robin said: he HAD seen some of the first _Saw, _and remembered this trap. Though it wasn't a door the interlaced straight barbed wire and coiled razor wire that covered the center of the room guarded: it was a table, with two small objects on them. After giving the door one last try, Robin could hazard a guess what both were.

And Robin wasn't telling the whole truth, as there was something new in the setup. Set into the walls and ceiling at various odd angles in the field of wire were blowtorches, all of them on, their small flames burning away with a myriad of low hisses. Robin could clearly see wires attached to them, that were in turn attached to the barbed wire. Beyond that, it was impossible to tell which piece of wire was attached to what: the interconnected tangles were too complex.

But not complex enough that a man couldn't get through them. If he knew what he was doing. And was lucky.

And was willing to suffer. If the barbed wire didn't get him, the wrong angles would ensure a blowtorch would. And even if he could avoid the torches...

Robin's tape recorder was on the ground: he picked it up to hear his foregone conclusions.

"Hello, Robin. As the leader of the Titans, you've been expected to risk your life for missions and your teammates. However, you've repeatedly lost yourself in your dedication to these missions, and on several occasions, you've nearly gotten yourself killed for them. While many would consider your vigor to be heroic, there are just as many who would consider it to be suicidal. While your missions are commendable, your methods and risks are simply reckless, relying on luck for survival in your battles against gods and monsters. It's time to for you to prove that you truly value the life you're so willing to gamble." The tape said, Robin having put the recorder on the ground while he removed his cape. "On the other side of this room are both an antidote and the key to your escape; all you have to do is navigate the maze of wires and torches ahead of you. Be careful: move too quickly, and you'll be ripped to shreds and burn; move too slowly, and those fires will use up the remaining oxygen supply in this airtight room, and you'll suffocate. Find your balance, Robin, or you may not survive to protect your friends."

"Please." Robin said, as he wrapped his cape around his primary hand and walked towards the tangle of wires. "I was doing harder tests then this when I was 14."

The truth was, not even Robin knew if he was lying.

* * *

Savior had no idea how long he had been out (it had actually been a few minutes). And when he finally did awaken, the burning agony still shooting through him, he was under no delusions when he finally collected his thoughts. Unless the trap door led to the center of the Earth, he was far too late.

A moment later, hands and feet pressed against the side, the flashlight sticking out of his pants pocket and giving him the best illumination he could arrange lacking his belt and jacket, Savior began trying to climb down the chasm that had claimed Sophie anyway.

Perhaps too quickly, as his foot slipped almost immediately and Savior nearly lost his balance and joined Sophie in her fall, as he thrust his arms out and felt the muscles scream in them under the strain, as he just managed to get enough friction to steady himself again.

If Jigsaw had rigged the walls with something sharp further down, he was really in trouble, as he continued his descent.

* * *

"I don't know B. I don't like the look of it." Gauntlet said, as he and Beast Boy peered down the sole notable detail of the room that had been labeled for Beast Boy: a hole cut into the floor. A ladder was attached to the side of the hole, descending into a room the next floor down, though all Beast Boy and Gauntlet had been able to tell about it was that the floor at the base of the ladder was white.

"Name one thing in this damn place that looked good." Beast Boy replied.

"I think one of the rooms wasn't ENTIRELY ominous."

"...look Rob, after what happened..."

"I've done my trap, and I'm not getting screwed over again by that bastard." Gauntlet said, as he fervently prayed that whatever was happening to Terra was something he would have been a third wheel for.

"...all right...okay hold onto the flashlight...you have our wood...stick...thing..." Beast Boy said, as he lowered himself down onto the ladder and slowly began to descend. Gauntlet knelt over the gap, tense and glancing around nervously

"Oh don't worry Rob, I can't see why..." Beast Boy said.

As his foot stepped on the rigged rung, the ladder having been properly measured so that Beast Boy's head had gone completely through the hole when he did: the rung broke off from its base, as the wire it was attached to snapped free.

Gauntlet, fortunately, had not started down the ladder himself.

But he did have the piece of wood dangling down in it, when the metal plate shot out of the side of the hole and slammed shut over the entrance, slicing off the edge of the wooden piece and causing Gauntlet to recoil in surprise, even as Beast Boy just managed to grab ahold of the ladder to keep from falling, coughing and gasping as wood splinters rained down on him, even as the severed piece clanked on the ground below him.

"Motherfucker!" Gauntlet snapped, as he got back up and pounded on the sealing plate. "Fuck! Fuck!"

"Geez Rob, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Beast Boy said, his voice muffled through the metal.

"I don't exactly go around kissing moms...are you okay?"

"Well if you REALLY stretch the definition, yes." Beast Boy said, before pausing a bit. "...I'm going down. I just had something of a cough."

"...kay." Gauntlet said. "Uh...I'll just...I'll just..."

"I'll trust in you to do whatever you think is best." Beast Boy's voice said, even as it began to fade. "See you...later..."

And then the voice was gone.

Left all alone, Gauntlet stood up. Well...Beast Boy likely had another exit to his trap. No sense standing around waiting...in this hallway of death...all alone.

...alone?

Gauntlet nearly ran out the door.

* * *

She'd landed in the kitchen.

What a mess the kitchen was, as it was down on one of the floors that had actually once been underwater. The room reeked of rot, even moreso then other, earlier rooms, the rusted out ovens and soft, spongy tables resting amongst the decayed counters that food had once been prepared on.

He'd tried. He'd learned how to shimmy up and down sheer drops using his arms and legs, and he'd practiced it _without_ his own Shimmer. But he'd never done it in such low light, as he'd tried to crawl down, hoping he wouldn't find something nasty hidden, that possibility slowing him down, and the slowness in turn causing a slow, gradual ache in his muscles, his strength fading by the minute.

And then he'd slipped.

He'd been falling.

He'd been desperate, even to try the agony again, and agony it had been as he tried to call on his talent to save himself...

Had he succeeded? He didn't know. All he knew is he'd slowed down. There'd been a moment of blankness. And then the pain had brought him back, his arms and legs burning as they held him up.

He didn't know how much further he'd had to go, but he suspected that if Jigsaw had rigged the sides, he'd have found something by now, and he'd resumed his downward crawl at a faster pace.

And then he'd stepped on air, and he'd fallen again. Fortunately, it meant he'd reached the end of his journey.

Which had been the kitchen. Savior had bounced off the same counter Sophie had.

With one crucial difference.

When Sophie had landed, the counter hadn't been clear. It had been covered with rusting pots and pans, filth-encrusted plates...and various rusty cutlery.

Including a rotting knife rack.

Which Sophie had landed right on.

He'd tried. Crouching over her body, blood everywhere from the wounds she'd suffered from the fall and the knives, giving her CPR, trying to staunch the blood flow...

He'd tried, as she'd looked desperately at him, silent, blood flowing from her mouth.

He'd tried.

And he'd failed.

And so Savior knelt by Sophie, feeling at her neck, searching for her pulse...and feeling nothing but the blankness beneath his fingers. He'd failed.

"...oh Nigel..." Savior said, as he put his hand over his face. "I'm so sorry...I'm so..."

He felt the sticky heat on his face. He pulled his hand away, looking at the blood on it. He was covered in blood.

Savior recoiled, backing up from Sophie's body, nearly slicing a deep wound into his own hand from a knife on the floor, as he crawled back and away from her before he hit the wall.

And there he sat, feeling the blood on him, looking at his failure...

"...I'm so sorry..." Savior whimpered, as he buried his face in his pulled-up knees. "I'm so sorry...so sorry..."

As the blood on his face was joined by tears.

* * *

Tears.

Terra wished she could just sit and cry until she ran out of them. Maybe her fear would go with them.

All alone. Death looming over her.

No one to help her.

Just like old times.

Terra HATED the old times.

And so she pushed herself up. She had to get six keys. Well, if she'd been able to eat out of garbage cans and sleep in soaking wet cardboard boxes in pouring cold rain...

Pain was universal. The rest was details.

"...all right. I can do this. It's doable." Terra said. "Okay...one step at a time. One step..."

And so Terra began walking towards the field of sharp objects, as she began looking for openings.

The hope for outright openings was quickly lost. But if she angled her feet, and only put her weight on some of the sharp objects briefly, then maybe...

There was one. She stepped to it. There was the next. She stepped there...as a glass shard caught her ankle, slicing a surface wound. She grunted through the pain, as she looked at her first key. She'd have to step sideways...

Her calf pressed against a large glass shard, drawing blood and another painful line. She grimaced, as she reached out and grabbed up the key. It came off easily.

One down.

Five to go...

Terra began coughing violently, and her heart filled with ice as the shuddering made her sway. She managed, after several frantic seconds, to regain her balance, as her ankles throbbed from the abuse her awkward positioning and shifting center of gravity had caused them.

Five to go.

Clock was ticking.

* * *

So was Robin's, but he knew not to rush. Panic was counterproductive.

And so, when he slowly began to worm through the first parts of the barbed wire, he didn't panic when his shifting immediately caused two blowtorches to be turned on full blast. That was probably done on purpose. And so Robin kept pushing through, moving what he could with his wrapped hand.

He feel the tiny barbs, seizing at him, slicing tiny wounds. The death of a million cuts. Except Robin had no intention to...

One of the wires abruptly snapped free of the wall, and Robin found his balance abruptly shifting, as he partially fell onto a coil of razor wire, hissing as it sliced through his thin shirt. He grit his teeth and snarled through them as he pulled himself free, as the blood began to run down his side.

But he didn't rush. He'd already made it ¼ of the way across. He was getting there.

No need to rush.

"I must not fear." Robin said quietly. "Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total oblivion..."

* * *

Not all fears were created equal.

Savior knew that, as he sat and looked at Sophie's body.

He should have done better. He should have done more. He'd let his team down. He'd let Sophie down. And Nigel...Nigel was going to kill him.

But he couldn't just sit there, so he didn't. A quick look around the room found a sealed closet: inside were old, rotten tableclothes. But he didn't have much else, as he took one out. Moving back over to Sophie, he pulled her away from the bloodsoaked mess she was laying, kneeling down and trying to adjust her clothing so the worse of her wounds were covered.

A racking cough shook him momentarily, and Savior drew away from Sophie, clutching his head, blinking away the grayness that was flashing behind his eyes. After his vision cleared, Savior leaned down and closed Sophie's eyes, before laying the tablecloth over her.

And with that Savior staggered off, leaving Sophie's body in repose.

There was nothing more he could do here: all his tasks lay ahead.

"...Raven..." Savior whispered. "I won't fail you...not you..."

* * *

Nigel Hastings' eyes blinked open.

From the pain that slammed into him a few seconds later, he kind of wished he'd stayed asleep.

But Nigel had had pain in his life before, and he suspected he'd have more in the future, as he tried to push himself up.

Weight. Weight all over him. He'd been in the elevator, and he'd had a bunch of scrap and chains dropped on him, snapping the tampered-with cables and sending him plummeting into the basement. He probably should have been dead already, if not for the fact that even without powers, his body was still much denser then a person's. That, and the chains that had dragged him down had made it simple to lay himself prone before impact. So instead of dead, he was just hurt.

A lot.

And covered with heavy chains, a few of which were tangled in with the ruins of the elevator and the scrap metal that had been dropped on him. Heavy BARBED chains, the little hooks having sank into his flesh and settled in. His blood, virulent as it was, couldn't melt metal, and hence more then a few were stuck fast. Damn it hurt...

...wait.

Was that his name on the wall?

It was. Not only had his name been painted above the elevator, here it was scratched in the wall. Well, somewhat: the descending elevator has scratched off some of it. But it was legible enough.

The name had likely been there before.

But the black plastic box with wires coming out of it and going into a small blank screen above it had definitely not. Scalpel stared at the device: he could hazard a guess what it was. A timed something or other, that would count down to nothing good.

There had been nothing like that in the elevator, and the odds of damage it could have suffered in its fall was too high. It had clearly been lowered down.

Along with the tape recorder on it.

Scalpel shifted, trying to get some of the weight off of him. He succeeded, slightly, and cocked his head to examine it. He could see no wires, but he hadn't seen any wires with the elevator before, and look where that had gotten him. Well, he couldn't just lie here until he bled to death either.

And so he took the tape recorder off.

And as he removed it, he felt a switch click as the weight came off. Damn it. What had he gotten himself into?

Maybe the tape would clarify. Hell, he'd already set off the...whatever.

"Hello Scalpel. Out of all of the Titans, perhaps you are the most intriguing case. After surviving a hellish war, you escaped to Earth as a deserter. While that may seem motivated by a desire for survival, since you've been here, you've been the Titan to throw yourself in harm's way without hesitation in order to save your teammates. It may be honorable, or it may be that you don't even appreciate the life you've created here on this planet. Now we'll find out." The tape said. "As you may have guessed, you were not injected with a nerve toxin like your teammates. You alien physiology may render it useless, or you may have died before you even had the chance to retrieve an antidote. Instead, your test is much more simple. All you have to do is climb out of here before the bomb in front of you detonates. It's a long way up, Scalpel. Move quickly."

Which prompted Scalpel to actually look at the timer...as he found the small screen had lit up while he was listening to the tape, showing a time of 16 minutes. Now with the tape done, it was down to 15:00...

Scalpel stared at the departing seconds, and for a moment he considered trying to deactivate the bomb. He then realized that this wasn't an action movie where he'd probably succeed at the last dramatic moment. This was a horror movie. Chances are he would die. And probably come back as a zombie.

He'd been right. He hadn't been poisoned. But that fact hadn't helped him out. And now the only _way_ out was up.

Because unlike a certain famous song about doctors, Scalpel sincerely doubted that suicide was painless.


	6. The Rules Are Simple

Chapter 6: The Rules Are Simple

"_Each person is born to one possession which outvalues all his others -- his last breath." _

-Mark Twain

It was a pool.

That didn't really surprise Beast Boy: he'd climbed down to a lower floor on his ladder, and he was certain he was near the ground floor now. It made sense that his ladder could exit into a indoor swimming pool, which it had.

What surprised him was that it was still full. And unlike the usual grime-and-dirt decor of the rest of this hotel the Titans were trapped in, it seemed relatively clean (at least in regards to the side of the pool Beast Boy could see. The rest of the room was still covered in filth).

That, and it had a glass covering over it.

"...that's...strange..." Beast Boy said, as he started walking towards the glass cover, his eyes glancing around. He could see three exits: one which had once been a fire exit (which was covered in rusted steel plate: chances are that wasn't how he was getting out), and the other two, on each side of the room, which also had doors covering them.

Beast Boy would investigate them later: he was more interested in the objects he could see out on the glass...

BANG!

Beast Boy nearly hit the ceiling as the crashing sound slammed through the room, as he flailed around nervously, trying to find the source.

BANG! Beast Boy jumped again. Okay, that was definitely coming from somewhere in this room. Maybe he shouldn't dally and check what was on the glass, before circumstances potentially made it...difficult.

Though that didn't prevent him from quickly kneeling down and rapping his knuckles on the glass. Seemed pretty thick, from what he could tell.

BANG!

Beast Boy could swear he heard a low snarling growl, and that added noise put wings on his feet...and reminded him of his injured shoulder, as it ached from his increased movement speed. Damn, he hoped he hadn't opened the wound again...

And then Beast Boy glanced down.

And saw it.

"...huh?" Beast Boy said, as he knelt down. Was that a body on the bottom of the pool?

...it seemed to be. Beast Boy could make out a head...except the body was far too long and...tangled. Beast Boy stared at the strange sight for several seconds, eventually making out a general black and white costume design and blonde hair. He sighed. Another warmup subject who hadn't made it, and apparently a stretcher-type meta, from what Beast Boy could tell. What had he had to do? Beast Boy could see that the pool floor was covered with objects: maybe he'd had to try the right one and failed. Had he drowned? Made another error? Beast Boy couldn't tell. Whatever had went down, whoever it was was dead.

"...sorry man...vaya con dios...or something..." Beast Boy said as he moved on...as another crashing noise rang through the room. It was coming from the left door. He REALLY needed to get to the objects on the glass. One of which was clearly his tape recorder...

...and one of the other two was a fire axe. And the other object was a ten pound dumbbell.

Beast Boy stopped and stared.

"...I really don't like what this suggests..."

BANG! A snarling growl was clearly audible after the latest concussive noise.

"But I'll live with it!" Beast Boy said, as he snatched up the tape recorder and turned it on.

"Hello, Beast Boy. Out of all of the Titans, you seem to be the one that understands my message the most clearly. However, there is a difference between understanding and practice. This test will determine if you have what it takes to survive at all costs. I'm sure you can appreciate the nostalgia, Beast Boy." The tape said.

BANG! Beast Boy jumped again...and then he reached down and picked up the fire axe, as he stopped the tape, rewound it for a few seconds, and started again.

"...you can appreciate the nostalgia, Beast Boy. The key to the chest containing your antidote is in this room, and it's up to you to find it. The exit is beyond the locker rooms, so you could just leave... but the only way to assure you'll live to tomorrow is to remain and retrieve your antidote. Choose wisely."

The tape ended there. Beast Boy tossed it aside. All right...antidote...

There. There was a small plastic box attached to the glass near the edge of the pool.

If Beast Boy had been able to get close, he would have discovered that attempting a shortcut with the tools he had been given had been prepared for: the box was locked with thick chain and a reinforced padlock (indeed, the same kind that had locked in another, unfortunate soul in a room of black death). The axe wasn't strong enough to break the chains, and trying to smash them and/or the box with the dumbbell weight would likely lead to the destruction of the box and the antidote. Beast Boy would have concluded he would have to find the key.

That would have happened, if Beast Boy had been able to get close.

He didn't get to.

As one final bang sounded through the room, the sound mixed with the locker room door splintering. Beast Boy whirled around, axe at the ready...

...

Beast Boy's unique skin coloring, a side effect of the fatal disease he'd suffered and the makeshift cure his parents had devised, caused it to take a lot to make him go pale. What came out of the locker room over the ruins of the door that it had finally bashed down made him go as white as Savior's attire.

Because coming out of the locker room, head low and feet shuffling, was a bear. A California grizzly, from what Beast Boy could tell.

A rather angry looking grizzly, as it swung its head up and glared at Beast Boy with its black, pitiless eyes.

As long ropes of drool slid down from the bear's mouth. Beast Boy didn't have to be as much of an animal expert as he was to know what that meant. It meant the bear couldn't swallow. Which meant hydrophobia.

Or, as it was more commonly known, rabies.

Which also prompted extreme aggression.

As the bear bellowed and charged at Beast Boy.

"...this is NOT THE SAME!" Beast Boy screamed in complaint.

And then the bear was on him.

* * *

As Scalpel crashed back down on the ground, his breath exploding through him. Damn it all. He'd already wasted five minutes and gotten pretty much nowhere: he simply had too much weight on him and virtually no leverage to move it. All he'd really been able to do was push himself up and then move around a bit to try and shuffle the debris on top of him, hoping some would slide off. Then the weight would get to be too much, and he'd collapse. Then he'd take a few quick breaths and do it again...and again...

9:56...9:55...

"_Zunkhip."_ Scalpel hissed. And he thought getting stomped on by Myth's dragon form had been paralyzing.

9:42...9:41...

"GRAUGGHHHHHH!" Scalpel bellowed, as he forced himself up and shook his body, feeling the chains dig into his wounds (oh yes, he also had the chains tangled around him. Despite himself being in a straight fall and not, say, a circular one. _WEDISHBAR_ ATMOSPHERE!). He was ready to die, but he wasn't going to just lie here and let it happen...!

And maybe it wouldn't, as a piece of the shattered elevator's gears finally shifted some. Scalpel collapsed, hissing, and then tried to roll over. His pinned nature prevented it...but the motion shifted the heavy piece of debris some more, enough for Scalpel to reach behind himself and grab it. Snarling low, he began dragging it off his back...for a few inches, before powerful cramps seized up his arm. He let the limb fall limp, as he tried to focus and remember his old Blacktrinian war-wounded tactics.

They often emphasized saving yourself, after all.

And in regards to that, Nigel was somewhat out of practice.

8:49...8:48...

And he might not get much of a chance to re-learn it.

* * *

The barb dug into Robin's cheek.

He didn't blink, even as the blood began to run from the tiny wound, as Robin carefully adjusted his feet and leaned to the side, pushing a line of the cutting wire up as he shuffled beneath it and slid into a new gap. He was about 2/3 of the way there, but the last third of the wire mass had very little in the way of openings.

He was going to have to start the real sacrifice now.

"...you know, it doesn't work." Robin said quietly. He was, as far as he knew, speaking to himself...or maybe not. "You can't force people to change. It's the same reason torture, outside of fiction, really isn't a good interrogation technique. If a person knows..."

Robin took a careful step to the right, wincing as the tiny barbs snatched skin from one of his legs.

"They have to hold out to a certain time, they'll do it. Hell, torture taints the information: you really don't know if they're telling the whole truth. To make the pain stop? Some people would say or do anything. But it doesn't change the fact they didn't know to begin with. And really...using the same tactic to try and improve people? Even worse."

Robin pushed two strands down, as he carefully lifted his left leg and began stepping over it...as the motion turned on the nearest blowtorch full blast...

And Robin found himself coughing suddenly, as he precariously fought for balance...and was forced to reach out and grab a coil of razor wire with his unwrapped hand, feeling the blades sink into his fingers as he shuddered. He finished putting his leg down and then removed said hand, wincing anew at the fresh pain. His glove had helped a bit, but still.

"When you're a child...it's the duty of your parents to help you understand the world. Your brain is malleable, like clay...and what is taught must be balanced. To teach your child the proper ways to do things, sometimes you have to scare them, maybe even cause them some pain...but as long as you make them realize it's the acts you are punishing and not the child...and even then, it's not easy. And it's the only time. Once you've grown up..."

Robin lifted up and tried to duck under a spool of wire, feeling it slice into his neck and upper shoulders, more lines of burning traced across him, as he stepped on a line of barbed wire, testing it and then quickly adjusting his other foot...

The wire snapped, and Robin fell.

_Don't get tangled!_

Robin whirled in mid-fall, grabbing hold of another wire with his wrapped hand and trying to balance himself, his knee falling down onto another line...

As the blowtorch above him turned on full blast, and Robin found the concentrated flame searing away the skin on his back.

* * *

From one maze of blades to another...

Two keys. She'd only managed to grab two keys.

And doing that had already ripped the hell out of her boots, feet and lower legs, to the point where Terra was now leaving a slight trail of blood behind her, and every step felt like she was putting her foot in an iron maiden.

And she still had four keys to go.

And there was that damn cough, and the spots of red dancing on her vision...

So much pain...not enough time...

And increasingly less space to move: Terra had no idea how she was going to reach the other four keys.

At least, by crossing the spike field.

There was another option...

The lights from the remaining bar segment. She didn't weigh much. If she could climb via them, and use them as makeshift monkey bars, she could reach the third key, and maybe find another path...

If she could make it...

Another nail sliced at her right foot, her boots not holding up well after the abuse they'd suffered. Oh, they had some armor on them...just not enough: Terra had hated how the more heavily armored boots kept her feet from breathing and made her feel slow and clumsy and had refused to wear them. A mistake: her boots at the moment would eventually let glass cut through them after enough cuts had been made. And enough cuts had been made two minutes ago.

Another step, another spasm of pain from having to balance on her ankle...

Another step, another piece of glass slicing into her leg...

Another step...

Relief, as she reached up and seized the hanging light, which let her take some of the weight off her feet as she tested it. Seemed firm enough. And her hands still worked...!

Terra pulled herself up off the ground.

...the light held.

As Terra began coughing again, violently, as her vision briefly shook and blurred. But she managed to hold on, as she looked at her route. All right, if Starfire could do this while electrified, she could cross a few makeshift handholds...

So she swung to the second one. It held.

She swung to the third one. It held. The third key dangled near the next hand hold. She just had to...reach over...

It held. Terra dangled from her perch as she looked down, sucking air through her teeth. All she had to do was put her weight down on two close nails, just for a second to let herself make use of one of her arms to grab it, as she put her left boot down on them...

And snapped out her hand for the key.

The points jabbed into her foot before she got her arm back to the light fixture, the third key in her grasp. Another brief brace let her pocket it. Okay, halfway there...

She swung to the next one. No trouble. She thought she could see an opening nearby that would let her access the forth key...

The light fixture snapped.

Terra barely managed to yank up her feet as she screamed, her perch severely compromised and on the verge of breaking off entirely. There was no space beneath her! She'd get cut to shreds...!

Make a space! QUICKLY!

And so Terra began kicking furiously at the glass and nails beneath her, frantically trying to break off or alter the direction of the spikes to save herself, hurry, HURRY...!

The light broke off entirely.

The broken-off pane of glass crunched beneath Terra's left foot, as her right foot impaled on a nail...at the front of her boot, just missing her toes, as another piece of glass scraped her heel...

As Terra lost her balance.

And fell sideways.

As her left arm flew out and hit the wall, trying to balance...

As her left foot shifted...and impaled itself on the sideways pointing nail, driving six inches of steel right into the soft flesh of the side of her foot.

Terra's scream rattled the remaining light fixtures.

* * *

As the bright light shone in Raven's eyes, bringing her back from...what had happened? She'd closed her eyes, was trying to find a loophole...had she tried a power manifestation? Had there been some kind of backlash? Had she passed out?

Raven couldn't tell. She hated that. In this situation, clarity was most anything she had.

And it was definitely the only thing she had to combat the "gift" Jigsaw had hoisted on her friends.

He was watching her again, his pig mask in his hands. Maybe he was leaving. Or he'd just come back from something while she was out (if she'd been out). If she didn't already have a throughly negative view of the man(ifestation), she'd almost admire his guts in actually going out in his trap corridors. If one of her friends found him...

"I don't suppose you've developed an interest in escaping yet." John asked.

"If I could actually escape this, you wouldn't be leaving me alone in here. Or you'd at least have left a tape in my lap." Raven replied. "Since you're neither afraid of leaving me all by my lonesome in here or giving me a tape, I suspect there's more to it then that."

John chuckled again. She was really beginning to dislike that chuckle.

"More than you or your friends know. But you're wrong; you can escape any time you like. It's entirely within your reach." John said. "In fact, you could probably escape and kill me easily, despite those restraints and the fact that you've been poisoned. Care to guess why?"

Raven glared at Jigsaw.

"...never." She replied succinctly.

"The thing that brought me here... it's very clever. It knows your weaknesses, as well as your strengths. Even how some of you Titans avoid using those strengths at all costs, even if it costs you your life. All you have to do is tap into your strength, and you could most likely combat anything it throws at you. Of course... considering your demon lineage, that doesn't bode well for your humanity, does it?"

"King Phyrrus' name is remembered for a reason." Raven said. "I earned my humanity. And unlike you, I will not discard it."

"Even if you die?"

"...it's not if you win or lose, John." Raven said, as she looked at her captor...even as strange spots of gray flashed across her vision. The poison. Despite her lack of activity, she wasn't better off for it. But she would not yield. "It's how you play the game."

That damnable chuckle.

"The rules are simple." John said, as he put his pig mask back on. "But the games themselves rarely are."

And with that, he was gone, leaving Raven alone in the darkness again.

* * *

When it came to dealing with bears in the wild, the best advice was to avoid them, by any means necessary (usually by letting them know you were coming in some way, by any means from traveling upwind to wearing a bell). If you accidentally stumbled across one, the best tactic was to let the bear know you were there and act submissive while attempting to quietly leave. Despite being large predators, most bears would avoid humans.

Unless, of course, you got between a mother and her cubs. Or the bear, despite your efforts, felt threatened by you and decided to remove you as a threat. Then you had trouble. Fighting a bear was a losing proposition: they weighed a lot more, had deadly claws and a ferociously powerful bite, and could run and climb trees faster then the average human. If attacked, your best bet was to curl up in a ball and protect your neck. Hopefully, you'd get off with light wounds.

Unless you were facing a predatory bear. They weren't common.

There was only one option against such an animal: fight back as fiercely as you could. Because they weren't going to stop unless you were dead.

And when confronted with a RABID bear, whose nose had clearly caught the scent of blood, and whose brain might be addled not only by a degenerating neural disease but by a malevolent atmosphere...

Beast Boy had the odds stacked against him, but at least he knew bears. They were one of his favorite battle forms.

And so the bear charged at him.

And so Beast Boy leapt up and began yelling and screaming, waving his fire axe around and trying to appear as big and intimidating as possible.

And for a moment, the bear slowed down...before drawing up on its hind legs and roaring at Beast Boy.

Which confirmed two terrible facts to the not-currently-a-changeling.

One) That the atmosphere was holding deeper sway here then natural order. Bears often got on their hind legs to examine a situation, not to bellow and appear scary.

And Two) Jigsaw had said his key was somewhere in the room. And there was a big black x drawn on the bear's shaved stomach.

"...nothing in this is right." Beast Boy said.

And the attack was on, as the bear swung down and swiped a deadly paw at Beast Boy.

Who had one more small advantage. He'd been a bear.

He'd learned the blind spots.

The claws just missed the small green teen, as the blow slammed into the dumbbell lying on the ground and sent it flying across the room, crashing against the wall with a low metallic ring.

Beast Boy gulped. One good hit and he was dead. There was no other way around it.

And there was no flight option.

Time to bear arms!

And so as the bear settled back down on all fours, shaking its addled head, Beast Boy ran in as swiftly as possible and swung the fire axe at the bear's skull.

It glanced off, gouging an ugly wound over the bear's right eye. The turbid animal bellowed, whirling towards Beast Boy with frightening speed.

He wasn't quick enough this time.

The speed he did muster saved him from being eviscerated. Instead, the bear gouged four lines across Beast Boy's stomach, sending him flying and then tumbling across the glass, his fire axe flying from his hands.

Coming to a stop, Beast Boy lay there, blood flowing from his front and back, as he wondered how he might contact the ASCPA and lodge a complaint. Hell, he'd settle for PETA...

The bear bellowed as it charged. And this time, Beast Boy had no weapon.

* * *

6:32...6:31...

Scalpel furiously thrashed, fresh adrenaline spiking through his body. He was almost free. All he had to do was free his pinned right leg, and then...

He'd managed to shift and throw off most of the debris, but the metal framework had crumpled rather firmly around his right ankle: Scalpel was furiously kicking at it, his blood splattering on and hissing into the debris, walls, and floor around him. Scalpel didn't want to think about what would happen if some got on the bomb.

6:15...6:14...

The wreckage shifted, as Scalpel snarled and reached out as best he could, the chains still tangled around him and limiting his movement, as he reached into the crumbled framework and seized it, his voice reverberating up the shaft as he yanked on the makeshift metallic binding as hard as he could, pulling with all his might...

He could have sworn he'd lost a toe from the sheer pain that shot through his metal foot as he finally wrenched it free, but a quick look showed he still possessed all his digits. He just felt like he'd lost one.

But he was free.

And with less then six minutes to go. He couldn't hang around, as he limped over to the wall.

Now...climbing without his strength?

Doable, as Nigel lanced out a hand and buried it in the stone wall, snarling at the pain it caused him from his usual might being sealed. It was like stubbing your toe...times 20 or 30 times. Over your whole foot.

A feeling he was going to have to get used to, quickly, as he rammed his other hand into the wall. Then his sore right foot (which hurt even more), and finally his left foot.

And then he began to climb, ramming new hand and foot holds and sending constant jolts of pain through his form. But he could take it. Starfire had climbed an electrified fence, he could handle some sore...

He stopped with a jerk.

The chains. They were still tangled on him.

And in the debris below him.

He was stuck once more.

* * *

The blowtorch melted skin and burned muscle, sending a spear of pure agony through Robin's back. He wanted to recoil. He wanted to get away.

But somehow, through a steel laid hard and firm within him by the strongest of men, he did not. Because if he just tried to get away, he'd become further ensnared in the barbed wire, hopelessly trapped until he exsanguinated, asphyxiated, or an even more unpleasant '-ated'. He couldn't move away. Not just yet...he had to reach out, make a slight adjustment to his right, gain his footing...

And then he stepped away and ducked under another line of barbed wire, as he hissed between his teeth as the spikes stripped ruined flesh from the ugly burn. But he was out of the line of fire, quite literally.

It was the best option he'd had.

"...right, where was I..." Robin said, as if nothing had happened, even as he assessed the last few feet of the web of ripping death he had to cross. "Children, you can teach. But adults? Adults don't learn from pain and torture. They just get angry. It's like Machiavelli said...if you can't be loved, be feared, but being feared is difficult as it's easy to become hated, and once you've become hated, people will be willing to suffer and die, if it means your end...and Jigsaw, there's no other end result of your tests then hatred. What happens if they survive? Do you really think that they'll appreciate their new, pain-scarred life? Or rather, will they just hate the one who took away their old one?"

Robin pushed an angled wire aside, drawing a new blood line across his chest as he scraped another spool of razor wire, as he pushed his foot off another spool and slipped over several crossed-together wires. His right arm brushed a blowtorch flame in the process, but after his back he barely felt it.

"We've been tortured before, Jigsaw. It didn't teach us anything about life, or how we were living wrong. It didn't even teach us pain management: we taught that to ourselves under controlled, non-hostile conditions. All it showed us was where our villains, those that harmed us, went wrong...and how thin the line between us is. There's no light at the end of this tunnel, Jigsaw."

Another length of wire, moved with his foot, as he slipped through two closely touching vertical wires...

"You're so certain on showing us where we're wrong. Like you're some kind of doctor..."

One last dense weave of razor wire...

"Really, to all that, all I can say is..."

Robin seized it, lifted it up, and darted through, as he collapsed on the ground. He'd made it: he was covered in wounds, but he'd made it.

"Physician, you really should try and heal thyself." Robin said.

Robin settled for healing himself, as best he could, as he located his antidote on the table and injected it. With that done, he let himself relax, just a bit, as he sat down and looked at what he had just crossed. All right then...

The only other object on the table was a key: a quick search of the area on the other side of the barbed wire barricade showed no place to put it.

Which meant it was for the door.

Which meant...

He had to go back.

Through the wire.

Robin looked at his dilemma, now only half done, as he slowly stood up.

And then he tossed the key over the barbed wire, watching it clatter on the floor beyond.

No sense risking dropping it.

"A string, a string, my kingdom for a string." Robin mused, and then he reached out and moved a wire aside, as he assessed the beginnings of his return journey.

* * *

Never let common sense get in the way of survival.

Or so was Beast Boy's thought process as he saw the bear charging at him. Running wouldn't work, and getting caught under the bear's weight and power was suicide.

Robbed of the Real Men, Roleplayers, and Munchkin options, Beast Boy settled on the Loony one...and ran towards the bear.

And leapfrogged off its head and onto its back.

It was amazing what spikes of adrenaline could do for pain.

They couldn't do anything for momentum and gravity though, as Beast Boy scrambled and then fell off the bear's backside, as the brain-damaged animal tried to figure out what had just gone on. Beast Boy bounced off the glass and began crawling towards his lost fire axe, as the bear sniffed around, reoriented itself, and shuffled towards Beast Boy...

As he grabbed the axe and swung. The blade bit into the bear's cheek: the animal reared back and roared in agony, pawing at the air as Beast Boy tried to scramble backwards...

As the bear crashed back down, Beast Boy feeling the impact vibrate through the glass...

As the bear's head lunged for him.

Beast Boy lanced up the fire axe, as the bear's mouth closed on it, the teeth chewing furiously at the hard wood as Beast Boy tried to fend the animal off. The rabies, as much as it crazed the bear, also worked against it: the disease induced lethargy and exhaustion, and the bear's runnings had already tired it out considerably. But even an exhausted bear was much stronger then him...

As the axe handle splintered.

And Beast Boy ripped a piece off and jammed it right into the bear's left eye.

The bellow of pain nearly deafened Beast Boy, as the bear reared up once more, as Beast Boy frantically scrambled away, even as the remains of his fire axe flew from the bear's mouth. Beast Boy scrambled to his feet: he had to get away, put some distance...what was that cracking noise, oh who cared he had to...

Too slow. Even blinded as the bear was, it could still smell Beast Boy.

And find him.

As its teeth closed on Beast Boy's shoulder.

* * *

Compared to the jaws of a giant, wild animal, a nail through the foot probably didn't seem like much.

But when you had as little meat on your bones as Tara Markov did...

Her balance made it worse, as Terra sobbed in her pain, trying to adjust her shoulder position, even as the nail shifted around in her foot and sent fresh spikes of torment through her leg. She'd thought all her previous wounds had been bad: those had been mostly superficial. This was full on soft tissue penetration: an x-ray would show the nail was sharp enough to chip the bone.

Tears ran down Terra's face, as she finally got into a decent position and began shifting her foot back, crying the whole time as she pulled her appendage free from the nail. As it slid off, she almost collapsed, barely stopping herself from impaling herself anew on the still-upward blades beneath her.

Her vision blurred, and once again she almost lost her balance as a vicious, ripping cough slammed through her...

_It was all a lie. She'd never lived this life. The streets had eaten her. She'd envisioned a much better life as she lay in her last moments of the true one..._

Terra gasped, recoiling a bit, her shock so great that she almost forgot her pain for a second. What the hell had that been?

...what the hell was the nerve toxin DOING to her?

...she was going to die. There was no escaping it...

...but there seemed to be no way of escaping the pain either...

As Terra shifted her position, her impaled foot screamed at her once more, and her knee buckled slightly.

...pain and death...

But she seemed stuck with the pain. There was no other option there.

...damn it all.

Terra pushed herself off the wall, bracing herself as she stepped fully on her feet. Her legs seared with fresh agony, but the muscles held.

And nearby, the fourth key dangled. Terra stared at it...and then stepped out, turning her right foot between two nails as her ankle yelled in fresh protest...

And she screamed as she put her weight on it, the joint wrenching under the improper position...

As she seized the fourth key.

Terra drew back, quickly leaning on the wall again to take the weight off her right foot...as her wounded left foot yelled in turn. Pain fogged through her mind, sending more colored dots flashing across her vision...

Just two keys left.

They were in nearly a straight line from where she was.

She'd made it this far. Her legs hadn't given out yet.

Just a few more steps...

And so she pushed off the wall, as she tried to bury the pain with anger. She was no saint, but she didn't deserve this.

And she'd be damned if she'd end up some...

A blade of glass sliced open her right ankle.

Another scream of pain echoed through the room.

But Terra kept going.

* * *

Scalpel couldn't get anywhere. He'd felt, during his mistake of actually getting in the elevator, that he'd plummeted into hell, and it seemed damn determined to keep him.

Well, if you wanted to leash a tiger, you had better be prepared for its fangs, as Scalpel had been furiously trying to free himself ever since he realized he was stuck again, yanking and twisting, feeling the barbs on the chains bite and rip through his body. In a saner mindset, Scalpel might have just jumped down and untangled himself. But his mind, awash with pain, fear, and rage, was anything but sane...and the atmosphere preferred it that way.

But as much as it tried, it couldn't wholly cripple him, as a chain wrenched free...

And then the rest gave up the ghost, as Scalpel pulled himself upward, ripping the primitive brace points in the elevator wreckage out, as Scalpel scampered up the wall for two more handholds...

And then realized that even free, several chains were still attached to him and dangling debris at their end, threatening to pull him back down.

How much time did he have left?

And how much blood? He'd woken in a hissing pool of it, felt more flow from him as he struggled to get free, and his furious efforts to break the chains had caused a steady rain of it. It was hard for a Blacktrinian to bleed out, but not impossible...

And neither was it impossible for Scalpel to climb, no matter how much he lacked strength and claw sharpness or was tangled in makeshift weighted chains, as he reached up and stabbed another handhold in, and then another, clambering for the elevator door he saw above him. It seemed so close...

So close...

He was there.

...and the door was fused shut.

You wouldn't know how weak Scalpel was from the bellow that issued forth from him, as he looked at how his escape had been cruelly snatched away. He glared at the door, momentarily considering trying to rip it open.

No. He'd never be able to get the proper leverage in his state. All he could do was keep going up until he found an untampered door. Or until the bomb obliterated...

NO! HE HAD TO SAVE SOPHIE! HE'D CLIMB ALL THE WAY TO THE ROOF IF HE HAD TO!

As Scalpel reared up and ripped into the stone above the fused basement elevator door. The next floor seemed a lot farther up: indeed, all Scalpel had climbed was the "resting area" elevators had beneath the bottom floor where repairs and such would usually be made.

And he had no idea how much time was left.

But he refused to believe his time was up.

* * *

A rough science lesson.

The human jaw, on average, had a bite force of 150 PSI, PSI standing for pound pressure exerted per square inch.

A rottweiler had an average bite strength of 335 PSI.

A great white shark had an average bite strength of 680 PSI.

Unfortunately, Beast Boy was being bitten by a bear.

Which had a rough biting strength of 1,800 PSI.

...well, at least he wasn't being bitten on his wounded shoulder.

Or wasn't being attacked by a crocodile: they had a bite strength of 5,000 PSI.

Though that was likely of little comfort to the green ex-changeling. He was barely aware of the teeth piercing into his shoulder: all his attention was on the appalling pressure that had suddenly seized his upper body. It felt more like he was being run over by a car then bitten by a living being...

As the bear reared up, pulling Beast Boy along like he weighed nothing...

Beast Boy's cry echoed through the room.

As the bear released him.

It was a ferocious and out of control wild animal...but it was also very sick. Its brain wasn't functioning properly. It was dehydrated and feverish. And for once, that helped Beast Boy.

As he crashed to the ground and tumbled, leaving a trail of blood, as the bear growled in fury and slammed back down on the glass floor.

As the furious animal's angry noises were suddenly drowned out by a much louder sound, the sound of cracking. Beast Boy had been right: he HAD heard a cracking noise. The glass over the pool was tough, but it wasn't meant to take a giant animal repeatedly slamming its 1000-pound mass on top of it.

And so the pool covering failed its test, as it shattered apart and plunged the confused bear into the water.

The bear's roars and growls turned to alarmed cries: Beast Boy had done a number on its eyes, and even if it had been uninjured and healthy it didn't have the intellect to properly understand breaking glass floor over water meant sudden swimming. Buoyed by its thrashing, shards of glass sliced into the animal's body, as it snarled and paddled, trying to find an escape from its predicament, a trail of blood tracing the water as it tried to find an escape...

As it reached the edge, its paws furiously scrabbling for a grip.

As Beast Boy brought the dumbbell down on its head with every bit of strength born of adrenaline and desperation he had.

The bear's cries were cut off as a dull crunch emitted from the blow, as a spray of blood and other...unpleasantness spewed from the bear's shattered skull and onto Beast Boy.

The animal shuddered.

And then it was still, floating on the pool water,

Beast Boy collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. He could barely believe he was alive. Hell, he was amazed he still had a functioning left arm. The bite should have ripped it off, or broken his shoulder...but it hadn't...

But it still hurt like the devil, as Beast Boy leaned over and retched briefly from the pain, before he turned his bleary eyes onto the bear corpse. Despite his wounds, sadness bloomed in him. It was just an animal, and a sick one at that. All the malice lay in Jigsaw's heart, directing the poor beast as part of his games.

"...sorry...big guy." Beast Boy wheezed. "...I'm sure...you're in a better place now...no pain...streams full of fish...and trees...full of honey..." Beast Boy wheezed, as he watched the corpse float on the water...

As he remembered how the bear's stomach was marked. And what that meant. The sadness was replaced with a wrenching despair. He knew what he had to do.

He managed to locate the axe head: it was the only cutting tool he had.

And in the end, when Beast Boy matched up his desperate battle...against how he'd had to dive into the water, swim under the bear, cut and saw furiously at the animal's stomach while having to retreat for air...and after his third trip having the torso of the bear fully open under his furious cutting and the warm, cloying MESS of the bear's blood and innards flood out and engulf him as he thrashed in antipathy...

He didn't know which had been worse.

At least the key was easy to find, once Beast Boy had swum back down to the bottom of the pool and located the stomach (though he'd had to be careful to avoid the glass: it seemed it was heavy enough to sink). Like before, Jigsaw had been "kind" enough to encase it in wax.

Green wax. Beast Boy didn't find it funny.

A few minutes later, as Beast Boy was injecting his antidote from the also retrieved lockbox, he realized when this was all said and done, he was going to have to get even more shots for rabies.

But he could live with that.

A matter his two friends in the pool never got a choice in.

If anything, he'd survive for them.

* * *

Gauntlet had no idea where he was.

He'd figured that with Beast Boy's route going down, he needed to find a way down as well. With the stairs he'd come down on before dead-ending at the 3rd floor, Gauntlet had checked the other stairs. At first, it looked like he was out of luck there too...until he'd spied the ladder partially hidden against the wall to the side of the door. The stairs to the floors below may have been removed, but he could still climb down that, which he began to do.

They continued down past the second floor to the first floor, past the second floor's entrance.

Which was locked, a thick door sealing off access to the actual floor. Gauntlet's attempts to force it got nowhere, especially considering he had to hang off a ladder to do it...

"I wish I were Macgyver. Or at least had some explosives." Gauntlet said as he looked at the door. What was he going to do if the other doors were...

And then suddenly a low clack sounded in Gauntlet's ears.

It took him a few seconds to realize it was the sound of a lock turning.

"What the..." Gauntlet said, as he reached for the handle.

As he heard what sounded like footsteps on the other side.

"...hey! Hey wait!" Gauntlet yelled, as he struggled to get the door open: it was heavy and took some effort. With his ladder hanging further hampering his leverage (not to mention his shoulders still hadn't gotten back to normal from his trap escape), by the time he'd pushed the door open, the hallway was empty.

"... great. Now the building's haunted. Great real estate purchase, Jigsaw." Gauntlet said, as he stepped off the ladder through the door made his way through the hallways. On the lower floors, the old, rotted out hotel rooms had been replaced by old, rotted out gyms, the workout rooms divided into small sections for specialty and privacy.

"We're having fun at the Y-M-C-A..." Gauntlet said humorlessly, as he searched through the hallway. "We're having fun at the...Y...M..."

He'd found something.

It wasn't Beast Boy, or another corpse, but it was notable. It was another signed door.

This one said SAVIOR.

"...hey! Savior! You around?!" Gauntlet called.

There was no answer. Left without any obvious route to follow, Gauntlet stared at the door.

...opening it would be bad. Opening it could get someone killed.

...but maybe he could take just a tiny peek. After all, if Savior was in it, the door was likely locked. And if he wasn't, he could check for a wire, maybe warn his comrade when he came along.

Yeah...just one brief peek...

* * *

...just one key left.

Her legs were a mess, she didn't know how she was still walking, but she just had one key left. If she could make two steps, she could grab it. Then three more...

And so Terra pushed on. She'd heard of Robin, and Batman in her brief experiences with him, talking about going beyond pain. She'd never thought she'd be able to manage it...

And she still quite hadn't, as a nail glanced her right foot, piercing right through her boot and scraping a small bit of flesh from the side of it. Just one more buzzing pain among many...the last step could be made if she angled her left foot...OH GOD IT BURNED...

She had it. She had the last key.

Don't panic. Just make it to the wall box. Just three steps.

One...

A glass shard bit into her big toe...

Two...

A nail scraped her left heel, and Terra felt weakness surge through her knees. No...no...!

She staggered...

And caught herself, just barely. Her breath rasped through her, her chest pumping so hard she swore her inhalations were entering so fast they risked cutting open her lungs. And in a way, they were. The poison was in the air...

One more step...

Just one more...

The nail cut into her boot...but Terra's motion wrenched it down before it could pierce in.

...she'd made it. Somehow...

And her legs bellowed at her that this wasn't a vacation. Terra gasped and fumbled in her pockets.

Small mercy: the safe had three silver locks. And she had three silver keys (and three gold), as Terra planted each silver one firmly in place and turned them.

The safe door opened. And there her antidote was.

As Terra realized she had no idea how to inject it. Sophie had done the previous ones, she'd said something about doing it in veins...how did she find a vein? How could she...

Another vicious cough seized Terra, as she leaned on the safe and felt like she was about to violently expel her lungs. She couldn't puzzle it out.

All she knew how to do in the end was check the needle for air. God she wished she'd paid more attention in medical lessons.

After all the abuse she'd suffered, ramming the needle into her thigh and injecting it felt like nothing.

Terra pushed the idea that she may have just wasted her antidote in her haste to the back of her mind. She had to get out. Out of this room, with its poisonous air. She turned around, looking at the deadly floor that lay before her. One last crossing. In a straight line...

She could make it. A dozen steps at most.

Heck, she could retrace her last few.

Terra slowly, carefully, turned herself around and began once more, as her blood traced patterns on the floor.

Step 1 done...now Step 2...

* * *

His appendages felt broken, but Scalpel kept climbing. If his species could crawl 20 miles across rough terrain with both legs blown off by an errant explosive, he could damn sure climb up an elevator shaft with some sore hands and feet...!

He was getting to the first floor. Just a little more...he had time...!

Though Scalpel had no means of knowing how much, as the bomb continued to count down...

2:00...1:59...

* * *

Time wasn't on Robin's side either...but he stayed the course. Slow and steady. It didn't always win the race, but it would ensure Robin exited the room in one piece...

As the latest barbed wire suddenly bit into his hand. Robin blinked in surprise, mainly because it was the hand he had wrapped in his cape. Which wasn't made of cloth. How did...

...goddamn atmosphere.

Robin moved on anyway, adjusting the cape as best he could.

A blowtorch seared his side as he passed it. Robin was more concerned how much air he had left...

* * *

Nigel could see the ground floor door. It wasn't fused. He could open it. He was about to escape...!

1:10...1:09...

* * *

Just in case, Beast Boy had checked the room the bear had come from, but found nothing but a filthy locker room that contained a giant cage the bear had been in. The lock was electronic: it had probably released itself when he'd stepped on that rigged ladder rung. The door that would have let patrons exit decades ago was barricaded shut like the fire exit.

All right, the other door then...

* * *

One more handhold...just one more...

Scalpel pulled himself up to the door...only to find that while yes, it wasn't fused shut, it wasn't open either. He'd need some leverage...

Seizing the edge of the door frame, Scalpel pulled himself up and kicked the wall beneath the elevator as hard as he could, fighting through the pain of it, trying to get as firm a brace as possible...

0:54...0:53...

Another few furious kicks, and more agony through his lower half, made another foothold.

0:47...0:46...

He just had to get a claw through the door. But if he wasn't careful, he'd likely lose his balance and fall off. He'd have to force the doors through constant piercing pressure first, as he held onto the door frame with his right arm and placed his other claw at the door crack, pressing as hard as he could against it...

0:35...0:34...

* * *

"...you know what?" Gauntlet said, as he drew away from the door, his hand leaving the handle. "No. I like to help and all...but checking this is stupider from buying fireworks from a man named Stumpy."

The empty hallway had no reply.

* * *

The door was starting to crack open. Scalpel's whole body felt like it was about to fall apart, but he couldn't falter now...

0:20...0:19...

The elevators doors slid open a fraction. Enough space for both his hands. Scalpel braced himself on the door as best he could and brought his other hand to it.

0:15...0:14...

Scalpel began prying the door open...

As it jammed.

"...NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Scalpel bellowed, as he surged every bit of strength he had left into his arms, brining it all to bare on the malefic doors...

0:07...0:06...

The door began to be crushed into their frames...

0:04...0:03...

But...Scalpel...

0:02...

Why did he have such wide shoulders?

0:01...

Damn it all.

The explosion shattered the entire elevator shaft.

* * *

The Whannel hotel shook violently as the explosive detonated, sending shockwaves of force slamming throughout the whole building. Windows shattered. The cage on top of the empty roof wavered. Some of the television cameras shut off. A partially opened wired door on the fifth floor swung open, and a moment later a board swung up from the floor inside with two rusty knives attached to it, impaling an empty air that had never gotten a chance to be filled.

* * *

As Beast Boy stumbled violently to the side, losing his balance...

As he slipped on a puddle of water, falling and slamming his head against the wall, as his senses took leave of him...

As his body, despite all senses, lost all control and actually recoiled off the blow, as he stumbled a few more steps.

And fell into the pool, limp as a dishrag...

* * *

As Robin found himself bouncing a bit from the out of nowhere blast, as he struggled to maintain his own balance...

As a wire snapped off the wall and whipped through the air, and Robin's eyes went as wide as saucers as it whirled out and wrapped around his throat, as his balance ultimately failed him and he collapsed, his back hitting and shredding against a loop of razor wire as the strangling garrote dug into his neck...

* * *

As Gauntlet, in mid-step, was thrown forward by the shifting building and right against Savior's door.

Which broke open, as Gauntlet stumbled in, hearing the sound of the wire snapping off in his ears.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

* * *

Four more step-

The explosive slammed through the room, as Terra found her delicate balance thrown all to hell, as she wavered, struggling furiously...

As she began to fall. She couldn't stop it. All she could do was futilely claw at the air.

"NO! I DID IT RIGHT! IT'S NOT FAIR!" Terra screamed, as her body leaned forward, even as she tried to pull it back.

Gravity won out.

"IT'S NOT _**FAIR!!"**_

The blades rushed up to greet her.

* * *

As the fire and shockwave surged up to claim Scalpel, as he tore his body anew to force his way through the elevator doors.

"SOPHIEEEEEEEEEEEEE...!!"

And then it was on him.

* * *

As Starfire sat up from the distant rumble, as her eyes went wide.

...something very bad had just happened.

"...friends..."

* * *

As Jigsaw paused in the hallway, feeling the vibrations ring through the walls and floor. Reaching up, he removed his mask, as he pondered for a moment.

"...hmmm. Perhaps a little too much explosive."


	7. Hell

Chapter 7: Hell

"_To the last, I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. "_

-Herman Melville, _Moby Dick_

Never let them see you sweat. A somewhat distasteful phrase, in some senses, but it was true. An enemy that knew it was inside your head was an enemy that would be hard to get rid of. There was a reason that the Joker, possessing little or nothing in the way of powers, was generally avoided by other heroes outside the Gotham family. Punching him out wasn't so hard. Doing it without him worming his way through a crack somewhere...not so much.

And despite the latent circumstances, Raven saw no reason to not treat John Kramer the same way. He'd envisioned one hell of a nasty night, and Raven surely was part of it. Best to make him think, or at least wonder, that she was virtually blasé about her situation.

The truth was, she HAD tried to escape. But without her powers, and with her form not actually sealed in a trap, it was impossible. With that option quickly killed, she'd tried to puzzle out just where the power sealing effect was this time. Was it another Orb? There were other methods to do it, but the Orb of Archetypal was tradition. And horror films were built on repeating themselves.

If it was in this room, she couldn't see it. The light from the monitors completely screwed over her nightvision. And even if that wasn't the case, Jigsaw could have just hidden it at the back of Raven's chair and she'd have had no idea it was there.

And that...was pretty much it for her options. She couldn't escape.

Unless...

She had figured it out before Jigsaw, at least in the sense that she'd known before he mentioned it. She had one surefire way to get free. The sealing couldn't lock off all her powers...because Raven had a segment she herself had locked off. And just because she had none of her normal powers didn't mean she couldn't access all of them.

But she wouldn't.

She couldn't.

She was fully aware of her strength, her limits, and what she was willing to do to save her friends. In time of great crisis, that had given her the focus and the will to tap into the darkest parts of her lineage, twist it to her will, and bring it to bear against her foes. The power that had shattered great efforts to destroy her, that had driven back beings of primordial evil that could have snuffed out the life of Jump City and beyond like it was a weak candle flame.

And this was a time of great crisis...but it wasn't the same. Because all those other times had been with her working in turn with her natural powers. If she tried to access the locked off ones without them...

She wouldn't make it. She'd done the "math" in her head repeatedly, and no matter what angle she tried, she knew what would happen. She'd break free. She'd deal with Jigsaw. She might even undo the power sealing.

And by then it would be too late. She'd lose herself to it. The red gaze. The curse of her blood. For all the strides she'd made in containing it, there was part she'd never be rid of.

Trying to utilize it to get free in these circumstances wouldn't be playing with fire, it would be doing a bellyflop into a freshly active volcano.

"Great Empedocles, that ardent soul. Leapt into Etna, and was roasted whole." Raven said quietly to herself.

And with her only real option not one, Raven had one tact left.

Make it look like she knew what she was doing. He probably didn't buy it, but he didn't know for sure either. That meant sitting here, without any way to save herself or help her friends, and toss barbs Jigsaw's way until she thought of something. Or one of her teammates compensated for her weakness.

Or she died.

She knew she had a very good chance of dying. And not in the usual sense she'd grown accustomed to. At least the normal situation let her go out fighting. This one might not even grant her a whimper.

...but it was better then the alternative.

As Mark 8:36 had said...

For what shall it profit a man, to gain the whole world...

And lose their own soul?

* * *

Gauntlet had never been one for the tactical mindset...but he had a fair bit of luck.

As the imbalance that had thrown him through the door caused him to fall on the ground...which made the launcher that fired the darts at him fire over his head, the darts shattering on the wall.

Gauntlet would have celebrated this...if his ears didn't pick up a distinctive snapping/shuffling sound. A sound which sounded a lot, as far as he could tell, like another launcher being loaded.

Above him.

"Oh fuckballs."

Gauntlet threw himself forward as the darts fired from the ceiling, shattering on the floor where Gauntlet had just been...

As Gauntlet was vaguely aware of the sound repeating itself.

While he was in mid-jump.

As the darts slammed into his chest, fired from the upper corner of the room facing the door, Gauntlet yelling in surprise as they stabbed into him. He staggered back, swiping at the darts, trying to knock them free...

As the door swung shut.

And the final launcher fired from above the door, sending another spray of darts right into Gauntlet's back and throwing him facefirst onto the ground, crushing the first set of darts beneath him.

For a moment, he lay there.

"...GOD DAMN IT ALL! FUCK! OW!" Gauntlet yelled, as he pushed himself to his side. His chest hurt like hell, and his back, he could feel the damn darts, still stuck through his skin, as he reached behind himself and furiously yanked at them. He pulled them free, as well as the glass and needle pieces stuck in his chest, at the cost of more pain and more cursing. "This isn't freaking fair! What..."

And then he saw it, as he tried to get up. The only thing on the room.

A table.

With that same damn doll he'd seen on the TV, sitting on a red tricycle.

And on the table in front of it...a handgun.

"...what the...wha...?" Gauntlet said, as he walked up to the table...as his wounds exploded with fresh pain. Argh, it burned. "This...this is too easy. What is this, some kind of "heroic choice" nonsense? Making me give up my vow not to take life? I hate to disappoint, fucker, but you're not real. You're a fictional character brought to life by a curse. Putting a gun in front of me isn't gonna give me a heroic blue screen."

The doll had no reply...and the room had nothing else in it. The table, doll, gun, and launchers were it. Gauntlet's quick search didn't even turn up a tape.

"...this is more confusing then those old adventure games. How do I use the gun to get out of...the room..." Gauntlet said...as he felt his heartbeat begin to increase. Energy suddenly flooded through him, raw tension crackling through his system. He felt like he could take on the world...and that he might have to.

"...what the hell was in those darts? Essence of sugarrush?" Gauntlet said, as he put a hand on his chest, feeling the accelerated rhythm. Not much liking that, he tried to put his newfound energy to use and tried to open the door he'd unwillingly come through.

No luck. The door was...it wasn't locked. The knob turned. But the door wouldn't open.

It was...bolted.

...was the door bolted? Had that been automatic...had someone come along and LOCKED HIM IN?

"...I am never watching another horror movie as long as I live." Gauntlet said, as he turned around and approached the table. "All right, let's try the ol' Smith and Wesson universal lockpick..."

And Gauntlet picked up the gun.

And the doll suddenly exploded into a high-pitched wicked cackle. Gauntlet nearly jumped out of his skin, as the doll continued to mockingly laugh at him.

A moment later Gauntlet had the gun aimed right at it.

CLICK.

Nothing happened.

There was no clip in the gun.

Mainly because it was on the table next to where the gun had been.

And the doll continued to laugh the same looping cackle.

"...okay Dungeon Master. I inspect the clip for traps." Gauntlet said, as his body twitched. Everything in this damn place was potentially rigged, why wouldn't the clip be...

But it wasn't. There was nothing attached to it, and nothing happened when Gauntlet picked it up.

And the doll laughed and laughed and laughed...

"Oh SHUT UP!"

And then exploded as Gauntlet finally put a bullet through it, its laughter dying as it broke apart.

Inside the doll, Gauntlet found...doll. The mocking puppet had no answers.

Still, Gauntlet felt DAMN good to have shut it up.

Now to get out, as Gauntlet turned around and aimed his new weapon (which, despite his assessment, was actually a Glock 21) at the door.

His ears rang with the shots, but the door didn't open. If Gauntlet knew anything about guns, he would have noticed that the weapon was chambered with the potent .45 ACP ammo, nothing to sneeze at. But the door did just that, failing to open from the several shots he poured into it. Kicking it afterward also did nothing. Not only was it bolted, it was likely bolted from multiple locations.

Gauntlet's euphoria dulled a moment, though his heartbeat remained rapid. Strangely (or maybe not), that fact seemed to have faded from his concerns.

"How in the hell...!" Gauntlet yelled, as he turned around.

And saw the door.

Oh, a door hadn't magically appeared in the wall. Gauntlet might have handled that better. No. In the corner of the room that had been deep in shadow, part of the wall had slid open. It was really a door, carefully concealed.

Which had opened...while he was firing at the other door?

"Gah. Nice work, Candide." Gauntlet said, as he headed for it. When this was done, he was going to just nuke Hollywood altogether.

As for his euphoria...that also seemed to have become strangely unnoticed.

* * *

A blow to the head is a very good way to lose your senses.

Though for regaining them, the sudden shock of cold water is quite effective in turn.

And so Beast Boy fell into the pool in a gray fog...and was yanked back out almost immediately, as he surged up and gasped, flailing around a bit before he came to his senses.

"Jesus. What was that?" Beast Boy said, as he swam to the edge of the pool and pulled himself up: it was a good thing the water hadn't been heated, or else Beast Boy might have joined the poor bear and the unfortunate test victim on the bottom of it. On the other hand, pulling himself up made his whole upper body scream from his wounds, to the point where he nearly passed out again.

But he didn't, and after spending a few minutes collecting himself and checking his injuries (which were bleeding, but at a slower pace. He needed some medical attention, fast). All right. He'd survived...

...but what about the others?

Beast Boy moved around the pool and tried the other door, which demanded a key. The key that Beast Boy had found in the bear's stomach served, a fact that made Beast Boy utter a small prayer as he opened the door. He made his way through the locker room beyond and found himself in more hallways. The doors were all locked, but Beast Boy was able to determine from some numbers on them that he was on the 1st floor.

The set of stairs he'd taken with his two friends had stopped completely after the third floor, but what about the others? He had to find Rob...

...and Terra. Oh god Terra.

And so Beast Boy took off frantically, going as fast as his injured body could let him, as he frantically raced through the hallways...

And found the stairs. And, lucky him, they were the stairs that actually had stairs in them.

Going down, to the ground and basement floors. Above the 1st floor door was empty air, the stairs abruptly cutting off.

Not so lucky after all. For a moment, Beast Boy despaired.

Then he saw the ladder. For another moment he forgot his despair.

Then he remembered it again. He had one arm suffering from makeshift surgery, and another that had suffered a mild (and by mild he meant his arm still worked) bear bite. And he had to climb a ladder.

A few moments later, he was doing just that, trying to fight through the pain and find his friends.

* * *

As Scalpel once again blinked his eyes open.

He was alive.

It had been so close. He'd only been about halfway out the stuck doors when the explosion had happened, but the shockwave had hit first, squeezing him out the broken doors like a cork from a champagne bottle, moments before the fire would have caught up to him. It was still a miracle that Scalpel hadn't exploded anyway: his species' blood reacted similarly to napalm when exposed to flame and Scalpel had left it everywhere, including all over himself.

Instead, he was merely thrown through the elevator doors by the shockwave so hard he crashed through the wall in front of the elevator, smashing through the rotted furniture in what had once been the hotel's gift shop.

And that was where he woke up...his head feeling like it had partially detached from his body. Oh, his neck was fine. His brain clearly wasn't. It was very hard to give a Blacktrinian a concussion. A face-first impact turned penetration with a stone wall served regardlessly.

The atmosphere had turned Scalpel's near-escape to its advantage quite well.

"Uh...dah _Gij's_ in the cradle with the _refuyio rot,_ liberty cabbage...Mandalorians...!" Scalpel babbled as he pushed himself up. He could barely remember his name. It was Nickelback Havezionfarwalk...wait no...god why couldn't he think...

...yellow dots on the floor. Follow them...Sophie...that was her name...

Had to...

...follow the dots...

...they never led anywhere good...

...but where else to go...?

Wander around...get killed? After all that...

...dots...dots...

And so Scalpel stumbled out the door of the gift shop, going around the corner and past the hole he had just made, as he staggered after the bread crumbs left to him.

Hopefully he could take the minotaur.

* * *

Caught at the neck with barbed wire. It should have finished Robin off.

Should have.

If Robin hadn't been reaching up when the explosive had caused the "freak occurrence". The bad luck had been counterbalanced by good chance, as the wire wrapped itself around his neck...and around one of his hands.

Which meant that one of his arms was now bound against his neck. But that was better then the barbed wire completely garroting him.

Oh yes, and he also had the razor wire ripping his burned back apart. But Robin knew how strange the human body could prioritize things.

All right...his caught arm gave him some slack...and as much as the razor wire on his back hurt like christ, it gave him some balance...all he had to do...was unwind the wire...

He had some air in his lungs, he could do it. Dick had once picked a handcuff lock which had chained him to a safe dragging him underwater with no air in his lungs, he could unwind this from his neck...unwind, careful...he couldn't pull, couldn't drag the wire on his neck...

His caught arm served well as a pivot point, as he carefully unwrapped the wire from his neck, barely noticing how it cut into his arm, as Robin slowly, carefully removed the wire...

There. He had it off. His arm was cut, but the barbed wire had only left small scratches in his neck.

"...not sure what that was all about..." Robin said to himself, and then snarled as he freed his back from the razor wire: that hurt far worse then the garrote had.

Robin preferred it that way in the end.

He still had to make his way through the rest of the wire. But after all that, that didn't seem so hard.

But Robin never abandoned his caution, as he moved on.

* * *

They weren't going to get out.

That was what Gauntlet had realized, as he mostly-walked somewhat-stumbled through the rooms beyond the hidden door. How could they? They knew what to expect, how to act, how to survive...and yet here he was, all alone, with who knows what state for his friends...

"I should've figured it out..." Gauntlet mumbled to himself as he walked, as his heightened sense of jubilation slid into crawling fear. "I shouldn't have left Terra go by herself, I shouldn't have let Gar go by himself, I'm a selfish bastard, Noel's right about me... I let his rules win. We were on the damn roof, there HAD to be a way down, I don't care what Robin said, maybe he's in on it...no, that's crazy...I should've kept pushing the whole scenario, I should've burned the damn DVD player October 30th, I should've stuck with my friends, none of this Scooby Doo horseshit... Some hero I am. I abandon Gar and Tara and I can't even save my own damn hide..." Gauntlet babbled. A twitch jerked through him, reminding him of his newfound weapon. "But hey, they gave me a gun! That way, worst comes to worst, I can off myself! Yay optimism! Ugh! Where the hell did they put Noel's tape! It's supposed to be left out in the open, not hunted through various rooms for like the item of a...sidequest..."

Gauntlet had made his way through another doorway and entered a filthy former spa...whose floor was covered in blood.

At least this time there wasn't a brutalized body on display.

In a way, it was worse.

In front of Gauntlet was a giant metal box, about six feet tall, two feet long, and three feet wide.

And stabbed through it were several rebar rods, traces of dried blood on the ends of several of them.

And Gauntlet could see what they'd been run through, because there were holes in the box. A bloody arm was dangling out of one.

"...yeahhhhhhhhh. _Saw_ has literary value. Surrrrrrrrrrre." Gauntlet said. Part of him wanted to run on, but the other part proved stronger, as he stepped in to take a closer look.

A key lay on the bloodsoaked ground beneath the hand of the errant arm. A closer look could see why the arms were injured: the holes were lined with razors. Gauntlet looked through another hole that allowed him a clearer view of the poor bastard who hadn't made it.

He didn't recognize him. He wore green and blue, with green goggles (Gauntlet thought: the figure's head was lowered in death and he couldn't make out a lot of details except the poor test subject had black hair), the costume also clearly functioning as some kind of armor. Not that the armor had helped him: it was clear from the design that he'd been pierced with the rebar spikes BEFORE the trap had started. There were no mechanisms Gauntlet could see to insert them. He'd woken up a pincushion.

And ripped himself half-apart trying to get free. The keys must have been outside the box. Gauntlet could hear the tape now. _You will bleed to death if you sit here, but moving will make you bleed faster which means you die anyway. Die in slow agony or die in terrorizing pain, make your choice..._

Or he could just listen to the actual tape. There it was, at the figure's feet. Well, at his knee: he'd been put in the box in a kneeling position. Then stabbed with rebar. And told to rip his arms apart to free himself...

...this was another trap! For him! A lure!

Jigsaw wanted him to be curious, to reach in and try and get the tape! It was a setup! Gauntlet recoiled away from the death box, his breathing coming in rapid shallow gasps. No threats came to mind. No quips. Just brief, paralyzing terror.

He had to escape. By any means.

There was another door, behind the box the green-suited test subject had died in. And even if there hadn't been, Gauntlet probably would have made one.

* * *

Why hadn't he taken the elevator? He was willing to risk traps, or Dennis Hopper, or even a malevolent Japanese AI...

There probably wasn't an elevator anyway.

But that reality didn't do much for Beast Boy's pain, as he slowly made his way up the ladder to the third floor. If he'd just been tired, it wouldn't have been so bad. But trying to climb a ladder with two injured arms...

Humans may have been, in many ways, hairless monkeys, but at the moment Beast Boy wished that humans had maintained some of the flexibility and dexterity in their feet some of their simian cousins had. Because when it came...to climbing ladders...

Beast Boy had taken a breather on the 2nd floor. He'd briefly considering exploring it, but decided in the end he couldn't waste the time.

Maybe he should have. It seemed like his rest had done him little good, as he struggled to climb up the ladder. It wasn't clawing your way up a wall with chains snarled around you...but it was bad enough...

...one step at a time.

Just like when he was recovering from his disease.

Just like when he was starting to understand how to alter his DNA and spontaneously increase and decrease his mass in order to use his powers properly.

Just like those times in his first days when he was separated from Steve and Rita and Cliff and Larry, on his own and in danger for it.

And just like the long twisting path that had led to Tara Markov.

All he could do...

Was one step...

At a...

He was there. On the third floor.

Huh. That was fast. Maybe there was something for all that naval pondering Robin and Noel were so fond of...

Beast Boy's shoulders screamed. He quickly decided he could puzzle out the secret of the universe later, and pulled himself through the third floor door.

"Rob! Are you here? ROB! ROB!" Beast Boy called. A little wandering quickly led him past his old marked door: Beast Boy peeked inside and found it empty. Where had Gauntlet gone?

Maybe...

"ROB! TARA! ARE YOU AROUND! I'M HERE! GUYS!" Beast Boy called out again, as he ran down the hallway, retracing his steps...

As he found Terra's door, as he stopped.

No one was there.

And there was no evidence anyone had been. No messages. No blood trails. Nothing.

...with his heart suddenly as heavy as a stone, Beast Boy tried Terra's door.

Locked.

...she'd have been in the trap for about twenty minutes. Most of Jigsaw's tests happened within one.

...

"TERRA!!" Beast Boy screamed, as he banged on the door. There was no answer. Beast Boy sank to his knees, clutching the door handle with one hand as he futilely banged on the door with the other.

He should have gone in with her. He KNEW these films. Screw the advice Jigsaw had given, he was an old lunatic, he couldn't...he hadn't...

...why...

Beast Boy didn't know how long he knelt there, quietly sobbing to himself. In reality, it was about a minute later when he rose numbly to his feet.

He couldn't let this happen...had to fix it...had to stop Jigsaw. That was all he could do, as he staggered down the hallway...

* * *

Down the hallway...

Through a rotting dining room...

...into a kitchen.

A body.

And as Scalpel found himself standing over the covered form, the yellow dots stopping right at it, he felt a terrible coldness seep through him. No...not after...he'd...

He...had to be sure. It could be a trick, a...

It was Sophie.

Scalpel felt every last bit of strength leave him, as he fell to his knees, feeling like his stomach had been seized and ripped out. In a last, desperate grasp, he reached out and felt her neck, hoping...hoping...

Nothing.

He'd survived it all, but it didn't matter. He'd lost.

Scalpel fell back a bit, his body feeling heavier then he'd ever felt in his life. Why had he ever done this? Why? All it did was bring him suffering...and destroy those who were close to him...his family...Sophie...

Why? Why did he bother living? Why hadn't he just flown his ship into the nearest star? Better then this...inflicting this on Sophie...she deserved better...she...

...a tape.

There was a tape recorder on her.

A growl echoed across the room, deep and vengeful as he moved his hand to the tape. He may not have been good for much, but at least he could make sure this John Kramer had his day.

A clawed thumb pressed the play button.

* * *

And a sound echoed behind Beast Boy, as he stopped. A dull scraping...

...like a key in a lock?

Beast Boy turned around...as another sound came, a dull clanking noise. Like tumblers shifting...

"...TERRA!" Beast Boy yelled, as he ran back to the door and pounded on it. "I'm here! You can make it! Come on! Come on!"

Another scraping...another clank...

Beast Boy wrestled with the handle, trying to get the door open...

One final pair of the noises.

And then the door was opening...

As a bloody, dead-eyed mess of what had once been Tara Markov fell into Beast Boy's arms, forcing him back against the wall as he collapsed under the deadweight.

"...Terra?" Beast Boy said. Terra had no reply, as she stared out ahead at the air, comprehending nothing.

She was covered in blood, absolutely soaked in it. Beast Boy frantically tried to remember his battlefield medic training as he laid her down. Okay first, check her pulse, don't use the thumb...her pulse seemed steady enough. Okay next, check her cuts, see if any were near major arteries...where were the bad arteries again...the neck...the legs...

God, her legs were a mess, utterly bloodsoaked. He'd gotten blood all over him. But there wasn't a giant pool around the two of them, so maybe...tourniquets. Just in case. Beast Boy tore off what remained of his top and one of his pant legs (and his arms once again screamed at him for it, but he ignored them), and fashioned them as best he could remember, tying off Terra's legs at the upper thigh.

What else...her front was a mess of blood too, check the injuries...listen for air, "sucking" chest wounds might be a punctured lung...he couldn't hear any sucking noises, but maybe he just couldn't figure it out...he didn't have any bandages left...

Except the one Sophie had given him. By now it was a bloodsoaked mess...but Beast Boy didn't have any other option, as he pulled it off and pressed it against Terra's chest, seeing fresh new blood stain the older, darker blood.

And during the whole time, Terra just stared, as Beast Boy tried his frantic amateur medicine.

Never wondering if he was trying to keep the engine running of something that had nothing behind the wheel.

* * *

Someone was behind him!

The bullet splintered the wall. But Gauntlet hadn't missed: there was no one behind him.

But he'd HEARD them! The footsteps! Gauntlet took a few steps back and leaned on the wall, hyperventilating. He had to find his friends...

...if they were still his...

"...robbie...!"

Wha?

"Robbie...!"

It couldn't be...

Only his mother called him that.

...but that was impossible. She was nowhere near Jump. This incident was always...but there'd be others...but she was...no...!

Gauntlet ran into the room.

OH GOD SHE'D BEEN TAKEN, SHE HAD HER ARMS CHAINED BEHIND HER, A ROD INTO HER BACK...OH GOD WHATEVER CONTORTION SHE'D BEEN FORCED TO DO HAD FAILED, SHE'D BEEN FORCED FACE-FIRST INTO A WHIRRING BUZZSAW...!

"...mom?" Gauntlet said in sick horror, as he ran over...

No she wasn't. There was no trap. The room was empty.

"...that...bastarrrdddddd! HATEEEEEEE...!" Gauntlet snarled.

That goddamn laughing cackle again. Gauntlet loosed three more bullets into the walls, but the mocking laugh he'd heard from that damn doll continued...

And then it was a scream...

A scream Gauntlet recognized. He remembered it well, from hot summers and wars fought with water pistols filled with ice-cold liquid...

Except this time it was in mortal terror.

He ran back through the door. Or maybe he ran through another door. He couldn't really tell. He was just following the scream...

Amy. It was his next door neighbor, Amy Ericson. Jigsaw had grabbed her too. Oh god, she might have been a hero too, a flying brick type named Paragon, but she had absolutely zero experience with this kind of evil, and if she had her powers sealed she'd be taken apart like a can of peas, she...

Didn't even warrant a trap. She was standing there, at the end of the long hallway he'd found himself in.

As the figure in red walked from the side, slashing out and stabbing her, as she shrieked and fell, as the figure in red stood over her, ramming the knife into her chest, her arms futilely trying to stop him, blood gushing from her mouth...

"NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Gauntlet screamed, as he broke into a blind charge. He wouldn't let her...not like...wait HE HAD A GUN...!

The bullets slammed into the wall, as the figure in red recoiled from them. For a moment the figure's face, covered in a pig mask, looked at Gauntlet...

Wait no it was Scalpel...

Wait no it was Jason, he'd somehow come back AGAIN...!

Wait no...it was Elvis! FUCK! ELVIS!

The figure fled. Gauntlet decided he'd settle on specifics later. Screeching a wordless cry of rage, Gauntlet gave chase to the fleeing red form.

He never noticed that there was no body in the hallway now.

* * *

And Beast Boy sat, holding Terra's limp weight in his arms, as she stared and mumbled nonsense, even as he held her, his head down and his eyes clenched shut.

She hadn't made it. Maybe she'd survived the trap...but the fear, the pain, the isolation...it had snapped her mind. He might as well have been holding a doll.

He didn't have any tears left for this atrocity...just a cold, piercing ache in his chest...

_She was going to die..._

_Unless she sacrificed. Death or pain. That was her choice._

_And she'd picked pain._

_Her left hand had impaled itself through a nail. Her right had caught a shard of glass at an angle and broken it, the shattering glass ripping apart the right palm and inner fingers._

_As nails and glass pierced through her chest, breasts, and stomach._

_Superficially. By sacrificing her hands, she'd kept all the blades from piercing deeper. From getting her organs. From death's grasp._

As Terra shifted.

_She'd screamed in agony. She'd cried._

_But somehow she'd pushed herself back up. Somehow, as her own blood covered her and her pain smashed through her mind like a out of control animal in a china shop, she'd moved forward._

_And somehow, she'd made it. She'd crossed the field of death and come out alive._

_In the barest sense. The keys had been inserted by sheer muscle memory fueled by will. And that was all the will Terra had left._

Until now, as she began to blink her eyes and coughed, as she found herself looking into Beast Boy's face.

"...Gar?"

Injecting an antidote into a muscle wasn't as effective as a direct-vein injection. It took a longer time for the neutralizing agent to reach the bloodstream that way. Combined with an ever increasing amount of poison in her, Terra had rolled the dice.

She'd been close.

But sometimes, four was just part of a seven.

"...did I make it?" Terra wheezed. "...ha...ha."

"Tara." Beast Boy said, as he held her as close as he could...until her gasping made him realize that might be more painful then it was worth. "Oh! Sorry."

"Not really...no. Neither of us are...neither." Terra said, and then coughed violently, pain shooting through her. "I...got the antidote but...there was more poison in there. I...I don't know what else I can do..."

"...don't worry about it." Beast Boy said, as he stood up, helping Terra up in the process as best he could before picking her up. His arms yelled at him again, but he wasn't letting her walk on those legs.

"What are we doing?"

"I'm taking you upstairs. Star's room. You'll be safe there. I'll find the others then...and we'll get out of here."

"...Gar...you wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

"...never! Why?"

"...I really am alive, right?" Terra said. "Because...this place...it's like hell."

Beast Boy flashbacked to his despair moments earlier, and beyond that to his own pain...and beyond that to his teammates.

"...I can't imagine hell being much worse." Beast Boy said, and set off.

* * *

She had to go after them...

No, she couldn't. They'd made sure she was safe. Running after them like a lost animal might just put them in danger.

But that noise, that shaking...what had happened?

It hadn't been a fun time for Starfire in the room, as she sat on her mattress and tried to rest. But her mind wouldn't stop. In a way, it never did. But in all the battles she'd had with her teammates, she'd always had the battle itself to distract her. If she got knocked down, she got back up until she couldn't any more. Anything else was either mind control or a dream.

And while this situation was clearly a nightmare, Starfire was still awake. Awake with her thoughts and her worries. She couldn't help it. It didn't matter how much training and experience her friends had, she was scared for them.

And she couldn't do anything but sit in this dirty room for them to come back.

Or for them to never come back. What would happen then? Would she be forced to find their bodies? Or would she be...

Starfire once again decided to follow after her friends.

And then immediately decided against it, again.

Her hands, mindlessly wandering in her worry, found something. Noel's jacket. She'd left it aside after he'd handed it to her.

...maybe she should wear it. That way if she did decide to leave, she'd be ready to.

Or maybe she...

She'd meet it halfway. She'd put the jacket on. And so she did. Now she was ready to leave...if say, her friends came back for her. She'd give them a little time.

The jacket felt odd on her, bulky and restraining. Then again, she wasn't used to it. Friend Noel wore it all the time, and he moved well in it. Even so, it felt so awkward, all shifting and bumpy and...

...bumpy?

Why would the jacket seem...bumpy?

Starfire felt inside the jacket. Yes, there was definitely something there. Taking the white coat off, Starfire hunted through the inside.

Friend Savior had said his jacket had been completely cleaned out...

She found it. Inside a hidden pocket.

Hadn't he?

And Starfire pulled the object out.

...a tape recorder.

There was a tape recorder in Noel's jacket.

...and if Starfire, who had NEVER worn the coat before could have sensed it was there...

But...what...why?

Beast Boy's words came back to her._ The answers were on the tapes..._

And so she pressed play.

The button immediately snapped back up. Starfire stared for a moment before realizing that meant the tape was at its end.

Which meant it had definitely been listened to.

But...

Starfire rewound the tape, wondering what she would find.

And pressed play.

"...Hello Noel..."

* * *

No more yellow road to follow. There was no wizard here. Not even a witch. Just a place over the rainbow...that led nowhere. Oblivion.

But Scalpel wasn't quite ready to throw himself into an abyss. Not any more...no. There was more to do.

Time to follow the red.

The red of blood. The red of sin.

The trail of red, unnoticed when he entered the kitchen. Going out of the kitchen. Across the dining room.

The worst part...he could barely believe it. It shouldn't have been this way.

But the worst part was also what was to come.

As Scalpel crossed the dining room.

And went into a side bathroom.

* * *

A mirror.

Savior looked at himself, trying to find answers.

He didn't know just how he'd gotten here. Everything since he'd started climbing down the shaft was foggy, indistinct. Scalpel had warned him not to use the Shimmer. Savior hadn't heeded that, what would the consequences be...

Beyond what they were. His failure.

And the red on him, all over him.

Savior had no answers for it.

* * *

And in the end, that itself was all the answer Scalpel needed.

As Savior saw him in the mirror. As Savior turned around.

And saw the knife in his hand.

"...Scalpel wait...!"

There was no place like home.

And Scalpel would give this blade a home.

Right in the heart it deserved.

* * *

"_Hell is the bloodcurdling mansion of time, in whose profoundest circle Satan himself waits, winding a gargantuan watch in his hand." _

-Antonio Machado


	8. Expendable

Chapter 8: Expendable

"_It's a hell of a thing killin' a man. You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have."_

-Clint Eastwood, _Unforgiven_

**REBOOT COMPLETE. SYSTEMS RESTORED TO BASE FUNCTIONAL LEVELS. BACKUP BATTERY RECHARGED: CURRENTLY AT 40 PERCENT.**

Cyborg opened his eyes, for a moment wondering if he'd dreamed the whole experience. He quickly realized that nope, he was still in a mess in a filthy security room after having to rip himself apart for a cruel would-be savior spawned from unknown malign energies with a fondness for Hollywood's dark side. Why couldn't they have animated exploitation films...wait no, that had films like _Cannibal Holocaust_ in its ranks. Maybe they were better off with what they had.

"Status of poison." Cyborg said.

**INJECTED AGENT ANALYZED AS NEUTRALIZER. NERVE TOXIN 80 PERCENT BROKEN DOWN. UNIT NO LONGER IN IMMEDIATE DANGER OF COMPLETE SYNAPTIC CELL DEATH. FILTERING AND PURGE RECOMMENDED.**

"How much power will that take?"

**MOST EFFICIENT OPERATION WOULD REQUIRE 90 PERCENT OF SECONDARY BATTERY'S POWER STORAGE.**

"Ugh. Don't do it yet then. Give me a bit." Cyborg said, as he looked around at the mess that had once been his body. "Computer, scan removed parts, analyze damage to them and unit, and assess likelihood of reassembly."

**SCANNING.**

A barely visible blue light wave shot out of Cyborg's mechanical eye, sweeping over his discarded parts and pieces.

**ANALYSIS COMPLETE. LEFT ARM CRITICALLY COMPROMISED: MAXIMUM FUNCTION ESTIMATED AT 30 PERCENT. LEFT LEG SEVERELY COMPROMISED: MAXIMUM FUNCTION ESTIMATED AT 50 PERCENT. RIGHT LEG COMPROMISED: MAXIMUM FUNCTION ESTIMATED AT 80 PERCENT. TORSO DAMAGE SUPERFICIAL.**

"Great. And 40 percent charge? I'm gonna need more than that to fix me...especially with what I have on hand. Ugh." Cyborg said, looking around the room. The tools had been bad for taking himself apart; they would be even worse for putting himself back together.

Looked like he was going to be in the room for some time yet, hooked up to this computer bank as a makeshift battery recharger.

And his teammates...what had happened to them?

Cyborg began to prioritize. Okay, first he was going to try and get his left arm working in some fashion so it wouldn't fall apart if he breathed on it. Then maybe he could dig through the computer banks some more and speed up his recharging if he found the proper wires. And hell, maybe he could actually turn this damn system on and see what was happening.

He couldn't be the last one alive...

...he just couldn't.

* * *

He wasn't.

But the numbers game the Titans were playing seemed doomed to drop, as Scalpel charged at Savior, stabbing at him with his knife. With his claws as dull as they were, Scalpel had no shame in selecting a replacement. It would do the job.

"WAIT!" Savior yelled. Scalpel's only reply was a wordless howl.

As the knife blade shattered the mirror, Savior stumbling out of the way...as Scalpel whirled around and sliced an ugly wound across Savior's chest, drawing a scream from him as he staggered back.

As Scalpel found himself having to pause, just for a moment. Damn. Too much blood loss...

But it didn't begin to compare to his other loss, as Scalpel again fixed blazing eyes on Savior...

Who turned and ran.

Scalpel's eyes narrowed. His teammate never backed down. And never admitted he was wrong.

And that was the final confirmation for the alien, as he hurled the knife after Savior.

The hilt slammed between Savior's shoulders, throwing him off his feet as he crashed down onto the ground, as Scalpel stalked after his fellow Titan.

* * *

Damn, his left arm had really taken a pounding during that frantic scramble to get those numbers. Now that he had time, Cyborg wasn't sure what more he could do with it, as he sat with the remains of the arm in his lap, trying to juryrig it back together. He figured he could get something but...

Keep working at it...

* * *

Savior didn't know what to think any more. Just that his teammate was trying to kill him.

And why not? He'd failed him. As badly as any friend could.

He should just let Scalpel kill him...

NO. THAT WAS UNACCEPTABLE.

Raven was still alive. Until she was safe...

Savior could deal out the pounds of flesh later. He couldn't just die! He had to live!

And so Savior pushed himself up, turning around and look at Scalpel's approach, the alien's body radiating murderous intent.

"Scalpel! Calm down!"

Scalpel didn't falter.

"Calm down!"

His stride remained firm. Savior agonized briefly over the inevitable escalation and then snatched up the knife.

"Think! That's what separates you from your people!"

"I don't want to think any more." Scalpel hissed back.

Savior stared helplessly.

Raven. No choice.

Savior lunged at Scalpel with the knife.

Scalpel caught the blade between his claws. And despite no inhuman strength, and for all his wounds, Scalpel stopped the attack dead.

And then turned it into a disarming flip as he hurled Savior over him.

As the knife blade bent the wrong way and snapped in the process.

Savior hit the ground, trying to collect himself, as he pushed himself back up to his feet...

Looking at Scalpel, as the alien looked at the failed weapon, and then tossed it aside.

As Savior recalled that even with dulled claws, Scalpel's hands and feet were still wrapped in metal.

As Scalpel introduced his leg to Savior's chest, sending him flying backwards.

The mirror shattered into a spiderweb of cracks as Savior impacted it, falling down and breaking the dilapidated sink beneath it. He lay there on the ground, as a violent, racking cough shot through him, strange colors dancing in his eyes.

Scalpel recognized the signs, but he was beyond caring, as he stalked in once more, leaving a trail of hissing blood drops behind him...which went with the hissing blood drops on Noel, more pain from their burning in the mosaic of it. Scalpel's blood wasn't acidic, but it was vitriolic enough to ignite on contact with fire. It didn't exactly feel good to get on bare skin. Or react well with a cold plastic floor.

To Savior, the hissing drops sounded like laughter. The laughter of blackhearted devils.

Borne from the veins of a true one in his wrath.

* * *

After much effort, Cyborg had managed to partially reconstruct his left arm so that the thumb and primary finger worked. It could barely lift anything, and his systems kept warning it was about to fall apart, but it was better then being chased by Richard Kimble.

But it had taken too long for his preference. He'd also exhausted over a quarter of his backup battery doing it. He needed to recharge himself faster, as Cyborg again examined the guts of the computers he'd opened up to lay power from.

There was that giant power cord, but after cutting off the black covering and testing one of the smaller but still large wires beneath with a finger, he again dismissed it: even the individually wrapped cords beneath simply gave off too much power. Digging more through the (smaller) wires beyond found some better options which Cyborg prepared and replaced his tiny recharging wires with.

Though in the end, it didn't speed up his recharge much. Cyborg sighed. Well, now to see what he could do about his legs...

* * *

As Scalpel reared up and stomped a small hole through the filthy bathroom floor, as Savior scrambled away from the killing blow, pulling himself up via another sink...

Scalpel's fist shattered the sink a second before Savior stumbled away, as Scalpel chased after him, shattering the following sink as his blow again missed Savior, as the white-haired teenager whirled away from the blow, grabbed the nearby open door to the closest toilet, and swung it at Scalpel.

Scalpel caught it and swung it back, sending the door smashing into Savior and knocking him to the ground again.

"...you don't understand..." Savior whispered.

"I do." Scalpel said.

As he kicked Savior across the face. Blood sprayed in the air.

"But I don't think I can forgive."

* * *

Damn it, he really had screwed up his knee joints when he'd removed them. At the rate he was going, he was going to have to drag his left leg around...

* * *

Scalpel hurled Savior through the remaining toilet door, the rotted privacy barriers falling apart as Savior bounced off the wall beyond it and right into Scalpel's vicious fist, sending more blood spraying into the air as Savior was flipped backwards, crashing down onto his upper body as his spine wrenched.

Savior tried to get up...

As Scalpel stomped on his head.

* * *

Okay, he had his legs back together roughly. Now all he had to do was stand...

Cyborg managed to do that.

He didn't manage to move, as his legs locked up and Cyborg found himself falling. At least he managed to land on his right arm, saving him more work.

Damn it all. This wasn't going to work. He had to do something else.

Time to consult the computers and see what else he could do about the tech left in the room. At least some, if not all, of that task could be done through the hookup he already had, as Cyborg attempted to establish a connection between them and his own systems.

And of course, the damage he'd inflicted in his cannibalization made it difficult. Cyborg sighed and began pushing himself around the room, trying to see what else there was. Okay, there was the computer banks, the rows of wall TV's, the separate TV that the original Jigsaw message had played on, his antidote safe, the tools he'd used to take himself apart...

...there was a closet, tucked away in the corner of the room. Cyborg dragged himself over to it.

Fortunately for Cyborg's already sky-high stress ratings, he didn't find a hidden tool that would have made his tasks easier. Instead he found, of all things, medical kits. Fresh ones: they definitely hadn't been left to rot in the closet like many other parts of the hotel. And, as Cyborg examined the contents of one, fairly well stocked ones.

Though they didn't do him much good. Cyborg left them in there and dragged himself back to the computer banks.

"How long before we establish a working connection?"

**PROCESS LIMITED BY-CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. SYSTEMS LINKED.**

"...well, guess sometimes convenience works for you." Cyborg said, as he began looking through the (very limited) computer systems.

...damn it, there was damage in here completely unrelated to Cyborg. Some of the security cameras were offline, and in other cases the TV's themselves were broken, making the cameras they connected to worthless. Cyborg decided to see if he could reactivate the cameras and switch the feeds, but until then, he would be limited in what he could see. Damn it all.

Well, he still had some options. And it wasn't like he was looking through the Pentagon. He'd find something, if only by time...

TV screens began turning on. They showed...empty hallways.

More empty hallways.

An opened door and an empty hallway.

One TV briefly showed a few seconds of _I Love Lucy_ before going to snow and refusing to turn back on. Cyborg stared at it, not sure if he'd imagined that.

A dirty kitchen. Cyborg watched it for several seconds, but seeing no movement in it, moved on.

A...cage on a rooftop? What the heck was that?

More hallways.

Was that the elevators?

Another hallway...that Beast Boy was limping down, carrying Terra over his shoulder as she tried her best to walk too. Relief flooded Cyborg's heart. His friends weren't all dead.

...okay, now what...

* * *

"Sorry." Beast Boy said for roughly the 14th time, as he (very) slowly made his way down the hallway.

"B, really. I do-OW." Terra winced, as a particularly strong bolt of pain shot up her legs. Beast Boy's attempt to "over the foyer" carry Terra didn't last long: she was light, but both of Beast Boy's arms had been mangled in the last few hours, and his strength quickly gave out, forcing both of them to hoof it. Which was also very slow, due to both their injuries. At least they didn't have to climb any more ladders.

"Sorry." Beast Boy said again.

"Look Gar, if the situation was reversed, would you expect me to carry YOU?"

"...how far?" Beast Boy asked. Terra gave him a light smack on the top of the head.

"...so what are we going to do if we all survive the traps?"

"...well...in theory that means we win and we're free...but John might have something else up his sleeve...he might challenge us a final time in a moral sense. See if we harm him, or listen to him about something...which is why I really hope Gauntlet doesn't find him, he's..."

"Beast Boy!" The hallway abruptly boomed. Beast Boy and Terra nearly had spontaneous heart attacks before their startled reactions caused their injured bodies to surge with pain, sending both of them crumbling to the ground.

"Oh no! Are you alright? B?! B?!" The voice yelled down the hallway, as Beast Boy realized what it was: a PA system.

With Cyborg's voice.

"Are you all right Terra?" Beast Boy asked.

"Define 'all right'."

"I know. Vic! Where are you! Cy?" Beast Boy said as he looked around.

"...B I can't hear you. The cameras don't have sound." Cyborg said over the PA. "Look to your right...up there. I can see you from there?"

Beast Boy found the camera, giving it a weak wave.

"I'll try and ask yes or no questions. Are you all right?"

Of course, that got a vague answer, as Beast Boy did the rolling hand wave motion that indicated a middle opinion.

"Right. I'm down here in the basement in the main security room. Stupid Jigsaw made me rip myself apart to save myself...can't really fix it up...we're back in this stupid Halloween horror movie shit, aren't we?"

Beast Boy just looked grim.

"Do you know where the others are?"

"Just Starfire." Beast Boy said, and then realized Cyborg couldn't hear him. He held up one finger and then pointed up.

"There's someone definitely above you?"

Beast Boy nodded.

"Are they hurt?"

The same rolling hand wave.

"...okay look...I've got medical kits down here. You and Terra look a mess. Can you come down here first? Get cleaned up? You don't want to bleed to death."

"Go all the way down to the basement?" Terra whined.

"I know Tara. But he has medicine. We could..."

"Wait! How do we know that's not really John or something! Trying to trick us!"

"We survived our tests. If he was going to bullshit us, he'd have done it by now."

"But how do we KNOW?"

"I..."

"Hey Terra, tell me why these two and a half words would embarrass you: Venus De Milo."

Terra went as red as a tomato.

"Ah, you remember some of the TMI we once spilled on that road trip with Gar and I. Convinced?" Cyborg said.

"How did he know what we were talking about?" Terra asked.

"I can read faces pretty well, Terra." Cyborg said. "One of the things about all-meat visages. They give away a lot if you know how to look. Sometimes, anyway. Now, are you going to come down?"

Beast Boy tried to indicate they weren't sure.

"You don't know?"

Beast Boy indicated their injuries.

"Oh, right. Okay, stay there for the moment. This damn PA only works a floor at a time. I'm going to hunt around and try and find the others...hopefully all right. Okay?"

Beast Boy gave a weary thumbs up.

"All right. Signing off for now. Stay safe. Over." Cyborg said.

"...I really hope he finds someone else." Terra said.

"That's the power of the Titans, Tara." Beast Boy replied. "If one of you falls, someone else will come along to carry you. No matter what."

* * *

It took a few moments for Savior to snap out of it from the pain: Scalpel had knocked him silly. The alien had found a good way to wake him back up: he was dragging him across the floor by his hair.

"Just listen..." Savior whispered.

"No." Scalpel said, as he fully yanked Savior off the ground and slammed him against the wall.

"The atmosphere...don't let it win..."

"It's too late for that Noel." Scalpel said. "Too late for everything."

As his clawed hands clamped around Noel's throat.

"And that includes you."

Scalpel's dulled claws and neutered strength did nothing to help Savior, as Scalpel hoisted him off the ground and began strangling him. Savior kicked and swung futilely at the alien for several seconds.

"Nigel...!" Savior wheezed.

"No more talk..."

"_...NIGEL...!"_

"Goodbye Noel."

The gunshot boomed through the small washroom, the sound slamming into Scalpel's ears almost as hard as the bullet slammed into his side. All strength immediately left his body: Scalpel had already endured a series of hellish assaults, but his species was biologically weak to bullets, even the strongest of them, let alone a weakened and thoroughly injured Nigel.

Savior fell to the ground gasping in air and holding his bloody throat, even as he tried to scramble away. With the last vapors of his muscle control, Scalpel tried to turn around...

As Gauntlet put another bullet into Scalpel's chest, sending him flying backwards with a low cry, splattering Savior with his blood, as the teenager snarled and recoiled away further from the new sudden pain...

And then just what had happened hit him. Scalpel had been shot. By his own teammate. By GAUNTLET.

Who looked like hell. And felt it. He'd chased after the figure in red, running headlong through doors, falling down a flight of stairs, and resuming the chase, no longer sure if he was even going the right way...until he heard the racket. And ran to see what it was.

And found Scalpel strangling his teammate.

And suddenly, to him, it all made sense. And he'd done the only thing that seemed to make sense.

"...why did you do it Nigel! Why did you kill Amy! What the hell did she do to you! Oh god, look what you made me do!" Gauntlet yelled, waving the gun at the fallen alien as Savior stared at Gauntlet in dull shocked horror, as his breathing began to slow. "And oh god...Sophie...poor Sophie...Did you kill Sophie too? She loved you! We all did! And here you are killing Noel! What's WRONG with.."

"Gauntlet." Savior said, his attempted firm tone coming out in a rasp, as he tried to stand up.

As Gauntlet, his body a mass of violent twitching, swung the gun towards Savior.

"Whoa! WHOA! Gauntlet! It's me. It's Noel. Put the gun down." Savior said, holding his arms up in a peacemaking gesture. It helped...in a sense: Gauntlet swung the gun back to face Scalpel.

"He killed Amy!"

"Amy's here?"

"Yes! I saw him! He killed her! He's going to kill us all!"

"...Gauntlet...Rob. Rob, think. THINK." Savior said, keeping a low monotone. "That's Nigel. Do you really think he could kill an innocent? Much less your friend back from Uberton?"

"But...figure in red...I SAW her...I heard her scream...oh god...red...red everywhere...Scalpel wears red, he's the only one who wears...red..." Gauntlet said.

As his crazy darting eyes fixated on Noel.

Who was covered in blood.

"...YOU."

As the gun swung over to face Savior.

* * *

"**Hello Noel."**

_Savior frantically stormed into the room where the Titans had woke up in, as he pulled off his jacket and began combing through it. What were the odds anything had been left inside that they could use? If they'd stripped Robin, then surely..._

_...there was something in an inner pocket of his._

_An envelope, Savior discovered, as he pulled it out._

_An envelope with one word written on it._

The tape referred to Savior by his real name. His real name, that he so zealously guarded, for both good reasons and personal failings. Just that fact put Starfire on edge.

"**For the past several years, you have used the codename Savior for your alternate identity. Such a pretentious name deserves scrutiny; while you claim to save people, all you've done is rescue people who were unwilling to save themselves..."**

* * *

"...Rob. Be calm." Savior said, as he kept his hands up. "What did you see?"

"Did you kill Amy!"

"...no Rob. I did not kill Amy." Savior said, before he hunched over and coughed into his hand. "Please..."

"But...the figure...in red...I saw..."

"Maybe you did. But Rob, I swear to you. ON MY MOTHER'S LIFE AND SOUL. I did not kill Amy."

"But Scalpel...he wears red too...!"

* * *

_Events had conspired to cause Savior to be distracted. And so he'd forgotten about what he'd found hidden in his jacket._

_Until he'd tripped and fallen in the hallway, just after avoiding the scythe that had come out of the first "wrong way door". And as he'd laid on the ground, he'd felt the object in the envelope. Inside his jacket, pressing into his chest. Reminding him of its presence._

"**While some could be considered innocent due to situations such as the Final Night, where they certainly could not stand up to a god, the fact remains that you were the perfect example of a false hero. You taught those people that they didn't have to try to fight back, they didn't have to work to survive. They just had to wait for a savior, whether it be you or your friends, to save their lives for them."**

* * *

"...Rob. You're not yourself." Savior said, as he took a step towards him.

"Stay back!"

"Calm down,"

"I AM CALM! YOU'RE THE NUTTY ONES! Scalpel...he tried to kill you."

"Yes, he did...but Rob, you need to listen...it was a misunderstanding...things went wrong..."

"Damn straight!"

"ROB. You KNOW Nigel. He's tried to kill HIMSELF before he was willing to hurt one of us. And as much as we disagree...that faded when things got serious. This is serious Rob. Maybe you did see a figure in red, and maybe it did kill Amy. But I didn't. And Nigel didn't." Savior said, as he slowly lifted a hand. "Rob...please give me the gun."

* * *

_He'd noted the oddness of the envelope and what was written on it, and considered going against it. But Jigsaw's rigidity and the atmosphere's sure presence made him hesitate. If he went against the script, his friends could suffer. Would it be the lesser of two evils just to listen?_

"**Of course, all of you Titans are to blame for this. Each one of you has done this, far more often than not, regardless of the severity of each situation. You've taught the world that their problems will be handled by others. That's what heroes are for, after all."**

* * *

"Keep away..." Gauntlet said, as he took the gun in both hands, his body shaking as tears ran down his face.

"Rob. Give me the gun."

"Keep AWAY...! I have to...can't think...!"

"Rob. Please." Savior said gently. "This is already very bad. Please...don't make it worse."

"But...you...!" Gauntlet babbled, as he waved the gun back and forth between Savior and the fallen Scalpel...as Savior stopped.

"Okay Rob. If you feel it's for the best. Shoot me." Savior said.

* * *

_The trap almost got him, despite himself. The saw launcher was on a delay. His mind was too pre-occupied with what he'd decided to do, and what could possibly lie ahead. For privacy, he closed the door afterward._

"**However, out of all of the Titans I've brought here to test, I find that you are the worst offender. You are the harshest critic of these "innocents", even realizing that they expect you to save them to the point where they seem unwilling to save themselves. But instead of correcting them and teaching these people to rely on themselves for survival, you just carry on, blatantly ignoring this horrendous flaw in society today."**

* * *

"...what?" Gauntlet said.

"Shoot me. End me as a threat. Scalpel's barely alive, he won't last much longer here...and hell, if you want, shoot him again to be sure." Savior said, as he glanced towards the prone alien, whose life signs did seem to be fading fast. "Or...give me the gun. And we can fix this."

* * *

"**What's worse is that you yourself gave up on saving yourself at least once. Rather than fight your so called "destiny" to follow in your father's footsteps and enjoy the life you created for yourself, you just collapsed and waited to die. You waited for a doctor to do all the work of fixing you up, and you went back to your life, watching the inefficiency of society around you, but doing nothing to change it. You fell from grace, and you learned nothing."**

* * *

Gauntlet's finger tightened on the trigger. Savior held his gaze level with the teenager's.

"Rob...you're a better man then this. Don't let it decide."

* * *

"**Now, you're going to learn the value of survival, Noel...**

**...one way or another."**

* * *

As Gauntlet stared at Savior with desperate eyes...

And then fell to his knees, dropping the gun as he clutched at himself, mewling in agonized confusion for a moment before he leaned over and vomited.

"...it's all right Rob. It's all right..." Savior said as he walked over and knelt down, putting an arm over Gauntlet's shoulders.

"He killed Amy...I saw...oh god, what have I done...what...!"

"You didn't do it Gauntlet. Not you." Savior said. "This place is making monsters of all of us. We have to stay human. Or all is lost."

* * *

"**Somewhere in this hotel, I have Raven bound and locked away. Her demonic lineage has powers that cannot be sealed away completely, so she could tap into them to free herself... but her survival would cost her the lives of all you Titans, and possible many more once she gets free. She's been poisoned like the rest of you and only has until tonight to choose her fate. You know her best of all, Noel. Would your Raven choose herself over you and your teammates?**

**Of course not."**

* * *

"...oh god...how did this happen...I just...God..." Gauntlet gasped, as Savior helped him up, Gauntlet barely able to stand from the sheer sense of overwhelming...everything that was slamming through him. He'd been drugged. He hadn't been thinking...and the atmosphere...

"I know. Come on." Savior said, as he began escorting Gauntlet out of the room.

"...wait what are we doing..."

"We can't help Scalpel Rob. We'd just do ourselves harm. His wounds, combined with his blood..."

"But I..."

Savior began answering, before another violent cough cut him off. He continued after it stopped.

"I know Rob. I wish...but we can't. It would just do us pointless harm. We have to find the heart of this fucking mess...and rip it out. It's the only way to save Nigel. And Sophie. And Amy."

* * *

"**The flaw with you "heroes" is that you do not value your life as much as the lives of others. You think it's noble and just to die for the sake of your friends or for the sake of ideals. This notion, which goes against natural selection and common sense, is insane. It renders my tests useless if there's a group of you, since you undoubtedly will try to aid each other."**

* * *

"...I'm sorry." Gauntlet said, as Savior led him through the dining room.

"I know." Savior said...as Gauntlet's knees abruptly gave out on him again, as the agonizing teen fell to all fours and wretched emptiness onto the ground. Savior knelt by him again.

"...not me...how could I let this happen...do it to me...it's not me..." Gauntlet sobbed.

"I know. I know."

* * *

"**Unfortunately for you and your teammates, I have taken this into account. I've designed this hotel, these traps, and even this environment to separate, distract, and turn you all against each other. If you value each other as much as you believe you do, refusing to conform to these tests, you will all die."**

* * *

"...don't leave."

"I won't."

"I left Terra...I left Gar...I failed them...how could I..."

"I know you did what you thought was best, Rob. There's no shame in it."

* * *

"**There is no scenario where every single Titan will survive, Noel. You can't save everyone this time. Now, since you are the one so righteous to call yourself "Savior", I have devised a way for you to come out as a survivor in this game, as well as your precious Raven."**

* * *

"...I'm so sorry." Gauntlet said, as he knelt there on the floor.

"I know. That's...the part that sticks out to me..." Savior said, as he stood up. "I always tended to say you were somehow less then us...but you saved my life. And even if you hadn't...no Rob. You shouldn't be sorry. For all my judgments of you...you're a good man."

* * *

"**I have antidotes for you and Raven with me. Your neural talent is an unfortunate disadvantage in this environment, but I have with me a concentrated dose strong enough to halt the damage done to your entire system. As for Raven, even if you try to use someone else's antidote, you still won't find her without my help. The only way you will receive an adequate dose and the only way she will get an antidote without turning to her repressed powers is quite simple."**

* * *

As Savior drew the gun up and aimed it between Rob's eyes.

"Far better then me."

* * *

"**You must kill all of the other Titans yourself."**

* * *

_**BLAM!**_

* * *

It hit Starfire like a killing blow, as she dropped the tape in shock. It hit the floor by the mattress and turned itself off, as Starfire stared at it in horror.

Savior had had this tape on him. He had listened to it. He hadn't told the others.

...but it was impossible. It could never happen...

Not her ally, her friend...

Who had been touched by the atmosphere more then anyone.

Who had a history of mental disease.

...and who, in the end, had always had a certain...coldness about him.

And it was then that Starfire realized that for all their skills and efforts, the Titans had been outmaneuvered.

They'd thought of everything...

Except what had actually happened.

* * *

Robert Candide. A son. A brother. A Titan. A clown. A hero.

...and, as Gauntlet's uncomprehending eyes went blank and his body slid to the ground...now so much meat and a mess on the floor.

As Savior lowered the smoking gun...

As the coldness in his eyes was abruptly consumed by savage, terrible pain, as he fell to his knees, looking at what he'd done...

...he wanted to scream. Scream and scream and scream over what he'd done, his unforgivable sin.

...but there was no sound that he could have made.

So he just looked at Gauntlet's body, for seemingly an eternity.

He had a mouth.

But he had no screams.

* * *

As a door slowly opened, and a bloody and savaged Robin emerged.

He'd made it. He'd gotten a little worried at the end, as he'd started feeling sleepy...but he'd kept the panic, the monster at bay. And he'd made it.

...and he was alone. Robin stared at the empty hallway.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected. But to find Savior and Sophie gone...

...Robin suddenly felt a brief coldness inside him, so strong it managed to overwhelm the burning nature of his wounds.

Something wasn't right.

A very ill omen had come.

And Robin didn't know if it had passed...

Or had just approached.

* * *

Scalpel had lived his whole life by ill omens...and now he was going to die by them.

But in his agony...there was clarity.

Clarity he had lost when he'd picked up the tape recorder on Sophie. When he'd listened to the words...

"_Hello, Scalpel..._

_I'm sure you're wondering how all of this came about. You survive against stacked odds again and again, fighting for your friends, your beloved, and your ideals. You push yourself beyond all limitations, hoping to create a better world where you can live in peace with everything you hold dear._

_Such a world does not exist, Scalpel._

_This world is harsh and cruel. If you do not safeguard your own survival, eventually it will be stolen from you. Your drive to constantly save Sophie at all costs kept her from learning how to save herself at all costs. Her life was stolen because she had not learned how to fight for her own sake; she expected you to do it for her. While this place and time is hardly the norm for you Titans, had she been prepared and taught properly, she would have never succumbed to the tests I've set here for you all. _

_However, neither of you are entirely to blame._

_There is a traitor among you: someone who values his own survival and his desires more than your lives and your ideals. A traitor willing to ensure your deaths if it means his survival. That traitor will kill every one of you if he's given the chance._

_Sophie would have died from her wounds due to a fall, even if he had not hastened her along. As a physician, you can see that the sheer number of wounds she sustained from falling on these blades would have killed her in time, despite how shallow they had been._

_So ask yourself: why is the only deep wound on her entire body aimed directly at her heart?_

_Look for yourself, Scalpel. I'm not lying._

_Now, you have a choice. _

_This traitor did this to guarantee his survival and that of his love as well. You can forgive him, even if you keep him from killing the others and yourself, and stick to your ideals of justice. Your beliefs dictate that he be tried and pay for his crimes._

_On the other hand, there's always revenge. But remember, revenge will never fix the wrongs that have been committed here, and to do this would violate the laws you and Sophie bound yourselves to... even if it guarantees he won't kill everyone else. _

_Noel has made his choice, Scalpel. Now... are you willing to stand by your morals despite your loss, or are you willing to do whatever it takes to survive, just like him?_

_Make __**your**__ choice."_

And for all his efforts, once he'd checked Sophie's body...had found the precise stab to her heart that had most likely killed her instantly...

He'd lost himself.

And he'd found Noel. And he'd tried to kill him. Even as part of him screamed that this could be wrong. That the atmosphere could be manipulating Scalpel. That he was becoming the monster most everyone believed he was.

He hadn't listened.

And he'd paid for it. He'd been shot, near-fatally, by his own teammate. And as he'd laid there bleeding on the ground, Scalpel had come to realize how he'd gone astray. And he'd been willing to pay the price.

Until he'd heard the single gunshot.

...and the wracking cough that had followed it a brief time later.

...and he'd realized something that chilled him even worse then finding Sophie's dead body.

The tape hadn't been lying to him. He hadn't been manipulated.

_**HE'D BEEN RIGHT**_.

He knew that now, as he looked at Savior. No...not Savior. He was gone. In his place...

...a monster?

...but it wasn't. He couldn't even take comfort in that.

He still saw Savior.

He'd...

"...you killed Sophie." Scalpel whispered.

"...I did." Savior replied in a quiet monotone. "...but...I said so Nigel. You wouldn't understand."

"...but I do Noel. I do...despite it all...I do." Scalpel whispered, as Savior raised the gun. "I know you had to do it, Noel. I...would have done the same, but...why Sophie?"

"...she was going to die anyway...but...she had to die...I'm so sorry Nigel...so sorry..."

"And...Robert?"

"...heaven will welcome him." Savior said, as he put the gun to Scalpel's head. "As will it you."

Despite himself, Scalpel smiled, as he gave a low gallows chuckle.

"My luck...it never changes...does it Noel?"

"Not from where I'm standing." Savior said. "Rest, hero."

Scalpel never heard the shot, as his world was consumed in permanent darkness.

More burning blood sprayed on Savior. He made no effort to wipe it off this time, as he let his arm fall limp, feeling the blood sizzle on his skin and face.

The mark of Cain.

* * *

"**You must choose what is truly worth saving: your ideals and your teammates, as deluded as they are, or Raven and yourself. There are plenty of tools and methods scattered in this hotel. Even with your "Shimmer" immobilized and your reduced strength, you have plenty of opportunities to eliminate each of the Titans. Just make sure you kill them before the traps in this building do."**

_Savior had stood, listening in growing horror and disbelief to the whole tape...even as he stared at the other thing that had been left in the envelope._

"**Try as you might, there are no loopholes or alternatives. It's time for you to reevaluate what "Savior" truly means, and if you think this ideal self is worth the love of your life and everything you've worked for. Is dying from the inside out in a rotted hotel an acceptable death after all you've fought for? Are you willing to let Raven die in order to save your friends, who would continue a mission you don't even believe in?"**

_And so he'd put the tape back in the envelope. Put the envelope back in his jacket pocket. And he'd stood there and tried to find a way. And he'd tried._

_Then Beast Boy had come along. Things had progressed. Savior had thought all the way._

_As things grew darker, without and within._

"**You may believe this to be an impossibility Noel...but as things go on, as time grows short...you may find in yourself a change."**

_And he had._

* * *

As Savior stood up, looking at the empty shell that had once been Nigel Hastings...and at his empty gun. He'd spent the last bullet.

He ejected the empty clip. It clattered at his feet.

He thought of Milton, and the fall. And how someone had once said when an angel goes bad, he goes worse then anything you could conceive of.

...how true that was.

* * *

As Starfire looked at the tape as it finished...having pulled out the envelope that it had come in. An envelope with the words "SHHHHHHHHHH." written on it.

Savior had kept the silence.

And in that Starfire had no words.

As she looked in the empty envelope.

_The envelope that had had the tape._

_The envelope that had had the clip of handgun ammo in it._

_Savior had not left that._

* * *

"**It's time for you to make a choice Noel."**

As Savior pulled the clip out of his boot where he'd put it...

And slammed it in.

As he looked at the gun, turning it over...

And then turning away from Scalpel, as he left the bathroom, holding up the gun as he seized the slide.

And cocked it. A bullet slid into the chamber.

"**Live or die by it."**

* * *

"_The most rational cure after all, for the inordinate fear of death, is to set a just value on life."_

-William Hazlitt


	9. Dance With The Devil

Chapter 9: Dance With The Devil

"_Nobody heard him, the dead man, _

_But still he lay moaning: _

_I was much further out than you thought _

_And not waving but drowning." _

-Stevie Smith

"There's no stairs?" Terra said, as she and Beast Boy sat in the hallway, trying to rest their wounds while they waited for Cyborg to get back to them.

"No. There's just a ladder. Two stories tall. No problem normally, but now..." Beast Boy said. "But Cyborg has medical kits. We need them, if only for fresh bandages."

"And morphine. I will be so happy if they have some morphine." Terra whispered.

"Quite literally." Beast Boy said. "But now's not a good time to zone out Terra. We might have to use our heads one more time to find an escape route...and even if we don't, who knows how far we'll have to trek to get help, a phone, anything."

Terra groaned deeply at the concept of more walking.

"Hey, maybe I can pawn it off on Cyborg...or Savior...or hell, maybe we'll just get our powers back and you can float yourself there."

"That would be very nice." Terra murmured: she certainly thought fate had been cruel enough for one day.

"...we'll just have to see what Cyborg finds."

"What could possibly go wrong there?"

* * *

Had Cyborg known what Terra had said, he might have chewed her out for jinxing him: his followup searches had turned up nothing.

As far as he could tell, the cameras he had access to granted him the viewpoint of most of the hallways, but the rest of the hotel was scattershot: the only place Cyborg could identify with any certainty was the kitchen, a room with a pool, and the roof with its strange cage. Not to mention said cameras were hardly top of the line and had more then a few blind spots. Then again, no Titans were trying to sneak around the hotel...

Besides that, nothing. Cyborg ground his teeth in frustration. Figures. He was glad to find Beast Boy and Terra, but judging from what he'd seen, they were hurt rather badly. Even with the medical kits he had access to, bringing them down was a risk.

But he didn't have any other choice. Now where had he left them...

* * *

"...just a simple..." Terra was saying, when the PA crackled to life. This was intentional: Cyborg didn't want to badly startle his friends again.

"Here guys." Cyborg said. "Bad news. I didn't find anyone."

Beast Boy sighed.

"But I didn't find any bodies either." Cyborg said, leaving out the fact that that might be because he couldn't see them with the cameras he had. "Look, I won't lie to you. I need help too. After my test I'm...not feeling like myself, if you know what I mean."

"None of us are." Beast Boy said as he carefully stood up, trying not to use his arms, wincing where he didn't succeed as he looked at the camera.

"Okay guys...how are you hurt?" Cyborg asked, and after some brief charades puzzled out Beast Boy's arm injuries and Terra's leg injuries. "Okay...can she walk?"

Another minute of confusing charades followed as Beast Boy tried, without sound, to explain the lack of stairs and how their only option was a ladder. But Cyborg hadn't damaged his brain, and he figured it out quick enough.

"Okay...this ladder. How tall is it?"

Beast Boy held up two fingers.

"Two stories...okay...Tara, can you walk at ALL?"

Terra indicated she wasn't sure.

"...all right...okay. Here's what I suggest." Cyborg said. "Head down to the ladder. B, you go first. Going down, most of your weight will be on your legs: you just need your arms to provide some brace and balance...oh wait. Neither of you are poisoned still, are you?"

Beast Boy gave a thumbs up, as did Terra, though hers was less enthusiastic.

"Good. Okay, as said, B goes down first, keeping the weight on his legs...now, Terra. If you can't put any weight on your legs at all, you can always hang from the rungs and work your way down. It's tricky, but doable, especially considering your very low body fat percentage."

Terra gave the camera a dirty look. It strangely heartened Cyborg: she could still get outraged.

"Anyway, Tara, you'll probably be at a higher risk of falling then B...so take your time...and well..."

"Not a problem." Beast Boy said, interrupting Cyborg's suggestion of what to do if Terra fell. There was only one answer: catch her. As far as Beast Boy was concerned, that was it, odds and circumstances be damned.

"I'm okay for now...no need to rush...but chances are better for us if we work together." Cyborg said. "I'm gonna keep looking around guys. I'll give you info as I learn it. Depending on where you are."

"We'll keep an eye out for the cameras." Beast Boy said, and then remembering Cyborg couldn't hear him, just gave another thumbs up.

Silence followed, and Beast Boy assumed Cyborg had moved on.

"...all right Terra, back the way we came then." Beast Boy said, as he went over and knelt down. Terra groaned again, but put her arm over Beast Boy, the green teen clenching his teeth as he helped her up.

"Why a ladder...why a ladder..." Terra mumbled.

"Hey, could be worse." Beast Boy replied as he began heading back towards the ladder. "Could be a duck."

Terra stared in uncomprehending exhaustion.

* * *

There were a couple of tastes Raven hated.

The copper taste of her own blood.

The acrid burning of one of the potions she'd had to swallow once to put herself into a properly dreamless state so her teammates could battle against a sleep-invading villain who resembled a Halloween foe in more then a few ways...

Starfire's cooking, when it went wrong (as when it went right, it could credibly be called "unique").

And this taste, creeping up the back of her throat now. The sour bitterness of desperation.

She couldn't get out. And her brain, for all it had done for her, had run out of ideas. None of them had brought her freedom, or a freedom she would accept.

And she was starting to feel sick.

Raven lowered her head, coughing violently. She didn't know how much time she had left, but she didn't think it was much...

The door was opening. Raven kept her head down to avoid the glare of the light outside, looking up several seconds after she heard the door close, trying to keep the pain and beginning-to-mount despair off her features. She could no longer credibly fake that she had greater control then she did have...but she could, and would, at least not let John know how helpless she really was.

"I don't suppose you've had a change of heart." John mused.

"You wouldn't understand." Raven said. "You cut out your own."

"Attempting to rationalize your own refusal to save yourself won't help you. You view this as an attempt to turn you into me. I beg to differ. I'm just showing you your own inadequate desire for survival."

"Survival...SURVIVAL?" Raven hissed. "You think...you know me? You think...you know survival? I was born...with the destiny of being the one who would bring about the end of the world. The only way people thought...they could stop it...was to take parts of me...and bury them so deep they would never get out. Otherwise my curse...would ride on them. Corrupt them. Corrupt ME. Take away everything I was, and replace it with everything my father meant for me to be."

John seemed about to say something, but Raven cut him off.

"You think...being told you're going to die...and then not dying when you attempted to end it quickly...means something? Try spending every waking moment steeling yourself against a natural aspect of your own being, keeping yourself from being whole because the wholeness of you means the end of everything. Try everyone looking sideways at you in fear and terror regardless, never truly believing you could do it. Try internalizing that terror, that doubt...try watching it be true. Try watching it destroy your home. Try finding a new home, despite it all, finding people who care about you, who will protect you, who will fight for you...find yourself unable to reciprocate, unable to show anything of the truth, because if you do, you'll doom them. Try finding that despite all your struggle, all your effort...it's all for naught. Try becoming a prisoner trapped inside your own head, seeing something that isn't YOU do terrible harm to the ones you love...and try finding out that what saves you, what actually gives you a chance at something resembling normalcy, is people going beyond their base natures, their selfish animal instincts, putting their lives, their souls on the line for you, refusing to back down, refusing to give up, in the face of all that "makes sense"...survival? You call this SURVIVAL?"

And Raven reared up as best she could and spat in John's face. Or tried: the spit fell short.

"I'd rather rot in hell." Raven said.

John stood there, looking at Raven. That damn constant analysis, never wavering, as Raven fell back into the chair, returning his look with a gaze of cold fury.

"...then tell me Raven." John said. "How was the act of your friends saving you from your inner demon separated from saving themselves from it?"

"...I love them because they went against some of the baser parts of their humanity." Raven said, and then turned away. "But I would never ask, or want, them to cast it off entirely. They are heroes. They are not saints."

And strangely, John chuckled.

And Raven felt the sourness increase. Something was very wrong.

* * *

"...ROB!" Cyborg "said", his voice exploding through the hallway.

Robin took the sudden noise much better then his two teammates, as he stopped.

"Could have done that more subtlety, Cyborg." Robin said, as he turned around. He wasn't expecting to see his teammate: his ears were good enough to know a PA when he heard it. He was still quite relieved to hear it.

"Robin it's me. Cyborg."

"...I just said that?" Robin said in confusion.

"Look up. To your left...there." Cyborg said, as Robin found the camera. "Found you."

"What about the others?" Robin asked.

"Sorry Robin, can't hear you. And I'm...not quite myself. Hence I can't read your lips." Cyborg said, irritated that that program of his wasn't functioning properly, though it made sense with the greater concerns Cyborg had. Robin blinked, but said nothing.

"Are you all right Robin? You look a mess."

Robin paused, trying to indicate that while he was covered in blood, cuts, and burns, it looked a lot worse then it was. He hurt, but he wasn't crippled.

But what gesture could convey that?

In the end...Robin went with the rolling hand wave. A chuckle from Cyborg indicated that such a gesture had been used before, as Robin wasn't the type for such body language normally.

"Look Robin, I found Beast Boy and Terra. Though...I don't know where precisely. I have access to a security system but it's one step up from a piece of junk. Do you know if anyone else is alive?"

Robin shook his head.

"Damn. What are you doing?"

Robin pointed up.

"Oh yeah, Beast Boy indicated there was someone above him as well. That must put you above him...who's up?"

Robin mimed firing energy blasts.

"Starfire?"

Robin nodded.

"How is she hurt?"

Robin indicated the knees.

"Damn. Terra's problem, trap, whatever messed up her legs too. I've got medical supplies down here in the basement room I'm in...maybe you should go up and get Star as well."

"What about Beast Boy and Terra?" Robin asked, before realizing the usual and pointing down.

"Yes, I'm downstairs." Cyborg replied.

Robin slammed his head into his palm, and then hissed as it caused his various injuries to burn. He tried holding up two fingers, pointing down, then shrugging.

"...oh! You think you should go down and help B and Tara?"

Robin nodded.

"Well, you might be able to...but considering your wounded state Robin, if you do, you'll have to go all the way back up to wherever Starfire is. Normally that'd what I'd tell you to do, if you didn't think of it yourself...but I don't know how hurt you are Robin. You might not...have the energy. Spirit willing, flesh beat kind of thing." Cyborg said. "But yeah, Beast Boy and Terra, they might not be able to do it themselves...MIGHT...but...it's your choice Robin. I'll stand by whatever you do."

Robin stood there, deeply torn. On one hand, Cyborg let him definitely know the state of Beast Boy and Terra, while Starfire was in limbo. And he knew she'd never want him to pick her over the more needy. But WERE they the more needy?

...Robin couldn't decide. Who really needed his help more? It was a complete deadlock.

And without time to sit and ponder it...Robin chose to go with his heart. If Beast Boy and Terra really couldn't proceed, they were smart enough to sit and wait. Cyborg could tell them, if needed. He'd help out when he brought Kory back down.

And so Robin pointed up.

"You're going after Starfire?"

Robin nodded.

"Okay, you probably know where she is...I'll keep looking for Titans. And try and pass info on...this damn PA only works on one floor at a time, damn it! But I'll do what I can. Good luck Robin."

And then silence.

"Could use some." Robin said, and continued on.

* * *

"Attention any Titans! This is Cyborg! I have tapped into the security system. Please find a camera on your floor: I may be able to see you. Please hurry. This PA system only works on one floor at a time and hence I must search each floor and I really don't have time for you to futz around!" Cyborg announced to a random floor: he had no idea which one, the camera weren't exactly conductive to showing room numbers. Having made his announcement, Cyborg waited a little bit.

Nothing. Cyborg tried not to get discouraged.

"If you can hear me but can't reply, I am in a room in the basement! Head there! Over." Cyborg said: he quickly moved to the next camera. It was a slow, annoying process: the only thing he could tell for sure by the switching was that he was switching floors.

"Attention any Titans...!"

* * *

Raven could hear the voice, muffled as it was, through the walls. It was the first confirmation that any of her friends were still alive, and it gave her new strength...which she needed, from the way her body was starting to feel. Coughing, strange colors, weakness in her legs (which was noticeable even sitting down), and she suspected it wasn't about to get any better.

John stood in his usual spot, watching the TV's. Apparently he'd left Cyborg in a setup similar to his. Raven doubted John hadn't considered that fact very carefully though.

It's what he hadn't considered that might save her.

"...tell me John, do you expect to get out of this alive?"

"Of course." John replied without hesitation.

"...so, all of my friends are dead then? Because I hear evidence to the contrary." Raven said. "And they will not let this stand."

"I have my assurances that they will be...preoccupied."

"We've been "preoccupied" before." Raven said. "We find each other. Even when the universe is falling down around our ears. Let alone when we've been targeted for death by a madman."

"You misunderstand. I want them to look for you, especially your boyfriend. As long as he does, I have nothing to worry about."

Raven stared for a moment, her attempted plan dying on her lips.

What...had John said?

...something wasn't just wrong. Something was _disastrously_ awry. She knew it now for sure. Whether by Jigsaw's own manipulations or the thrice-damned atmosphere...

...she had to ask. Even if it showed her hand. The alternative was worse.

"...what did you do." Raven said in a low accusatory whisper.

John had no answer.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Raven bellowed, a bellow that turned into the most bone-shaking cough she'd yet experienced. She almost expected to hack up her lungs.

"I didn't _do_ anything. I only present people with choices. It's up to them to decide what to do with it." John said.

"...they will stop you." Raven said.

"...I doubt they're in any condition to stop anything, Raven..." John said, as he turned back to his TV monitors, as he pulled out a keyboard and typed at it for a bit.

As the monitors went to split screen.

The Titans had not considered a few key possibilities. One of which was that there were no cameras beyond the ones that could be seen. They were wrong there. John had been, after all, an engineer.

As Raven looked at the split screens...and her heart wrenched. There wasn't much detail, but she could make out what was on them. The bodies.

Gauntlet and Scalpel. Dead.

Her head fell. Some of her friends were alive...but some weren't. Even considering the circumstances, the loss struck Raven hard.

But on the heels of the grief came the anger.

"Congratulations. You proved yourself better then most of our "esteemed" enemies." Raven said as she looked back up. "But a highly skilled murderer is still just a murderer."

"...I am a murderer?" John said.

And he typed something else on the keypad.

* * *

As Terra jumped (well, started, she was sitting down) as Cyborg's voice echoed down the hall, her heart taking a few seconds to calm back down. She and Beast Boy had arrived at the ladder, and Gar had gone down first, as suggested. In the time it had taken him to reach the second floor (which had been painful but doable to him) and take a breather, Cyborg's announcement had caught her off guard twice. Damn. If she got too startled when trying to climb...

"Terra?" Beast Boy called up. "I'm done my rest on the second floor, I'm starting down to the first now."

"Okay." Terra called back, trying to watch Beast Boy in the extreme murk of the shattered stairway. Soon it would be her turn...

* * *

It was the atmosphere that decided it.

Starfire could debate the possibilities and weaknesses of her friends until the cows came home, but what quickly decided it for her was the atmosphere. It changed, it warped, and it corrupted, and they'd already been in its grip for who knows how long. Even if Noel had rejected the tape, the atmosphere...

And so Starfire had pulled herself up...and fell once more, her legs screaming in agony. She bit the pain down, crawling over to the door, pulling the chair free, and sitting on it as she opened the door. Using the chair as a brace, she stood up, her legs and knee howling. She ignored it. She had to get to her teammates, warn them...

And so she started down the hallway, slowly shoving the chair in front of her as she used it as a makeshift crutch, trying to fight through the pain. She couldn't let it win...

She wouldn't let it win...

* * *

As Terra grappled with her own enemy in a battle where there would only be one winner: gravity.

As it turned out, she really couldn't use her legs to climb down, and she'd been forced to go with the dangling method Cyborg had outlined. And she may have weighed less then the norm, but between her undersized arm muscles and oh yes, the fact she'd also messed up her hands as well as her legs, this was proving as hard as her test.

Blood ran down her arms, dripping to the ground below, where Beast Boy waited, standing nervously. He'd made it, now Terra had to. Normally he'd shout encouragement, but he didn't want to distract her.

As Terra pulled herself down another rung...

And her hand, slick with blood, slipped.

* * *

As Starfire gasped and fell down, as Cyborg's voice boomed through the hallways suddenly.

"Friend Victor?" Starfire said, as she looked up. It was, on some sort of announcing system...what had he said?

Find a camera?

Wasn't there a camera back in the starting room? Starfire turned back and stared at the distance she'd gone down the hallway past said room. It was only about fifteen feet, but to her injured legs it might as well have been fifteen light years.

Starfire didn't let that deter her, as she stood up and tried to turn the chair around...no, it was taking too long! Starfire abandoned the chair and began limping down the hallway, trying to take the pressure off her legs as best she could by leaning on the wall, her breath frantically hammering in her lungs as she staggered back towards the starting room. _X'hal_, she had to be seen, she had to give the warning...

* * *

"...oh you have no idea how fucking annoying that is." Beast Boy said, as he stared at the basement door. The LOCKED basement door, which he had just found out.

"Give me a try." Terra replied from where she sat on the stairs, trying to focus through the pain in her legs. She'd had one hell of a scare, her hand slipping on the way down...but as much as they hurt, her legs were still usable to a degree. And in desperate times, desperate measures could work, like bracing yourself on the ladder with said still-functioning legs to avoid a full on slip and fall. Sure, the bolt of agony that had shot up her body had nearly made her pass out and fall anyway...but it hadn't.

The rest of the trip down had been even slower and even less fun. But she'd made it. And she and Beast Boy had limped and staggered down the two flights of stairs.

To find the door to the basement sealed tight.

"DAMN IT!" Beast Boy said, as he gave the door a light kick. "...okay Terra. I know you don't want to do any more walking..."

Terra groaned as loud as she could.

"But we have to at least check the other stairway. Maybe..."

"Why don't we just try and leave? You know, get help?" Terra asked.

"Bad idea. Unless we get an obvious sign for the exit...you know. You saw what was behind some of those doors." Beast Boy said. "If we find something, I'll take a look. Otherwise, we need to find Cyborg."

"And tell him to get a new spiel." Terra groaned as Beast Boy helped her up again.

"I'll put that on the list too."

* * *

"...if you can hear me but can't reply..." Came Cyborg's voice, as Starfire crawled towards the entrance. No! That sounded like leaving words!

"NO! DON'T GO!" Starfire cried out, as she lunged forward...as her knees locked up in paralyzing pain and caused her to collapse...as she continued to crawl forward towards the inches-from-her entrance...

"Over."

"Friend Cyborg! Friend Cyborg!" Starfire called out as she pulled herself through the doorway, waving one arm. "WAIT! WAIT! Wait..."

Starfire stopped, looking up at the camera. No reply came.

"...wait..." Starfire said, as she stared at the ground, her legs throbbing in torment the only sign she'd accomplished anything, and in this case, it was just to aggravate her injuries.

* * *

"...maybe instead of a tape, Jigsaw should have given us a map..." Terra groaned as she and Beast Boy walked along as best they could, trying to locate the other set of stairs.

"Might not do us any good...remember the reports from past years? Jigsaw might play fair, but who says the atmosphere overall has to? We might be inside a prime example of chaos architecture."

"Please B, I've seen your room. This is...yellow spots."

"What?"

"Look. Yellow spots." Terra said, pointing. "That's how we go, right?"

"...right, yeah." Beast Boy said, as he began following them.

"This isn't going to lead us to another trap is it?"

"No that's not how it works..."

* * *

"...Star?"

Starfire looked up from where she lay, staring at the camera.

"Hot damn girl, it IS you! I THOUGHT I saw a flicker of motion as I was switching!" Cyborg said, glad to see the alien alive.

"...Friend Victor..." Starfire said quietly.

And then remember just why she'd made such a frantic effort to be seen.

"Friend Cyborg! It's Savior! He's in trouble!" Starfire yelled, as she tried to stand up...and failed, as she sat back down with a thud. "His tape was hidden ON him, it said he had to kill us all, the atmosphere...it might corrupt him! You have to be careful, you don't know if he's...!"

"Starfire! Starfire! I can't hear you! No sound!" Cyborg interrupted. Starfire stared at the camera, and then frantically began waving her arms, making weird motions and forms as best she could from where she was.

Cyborg stared back incomprehensively. Starfire had never been very good at charades.

"Star...listen. I've found Beast Boy, Terra, and Robin...Robin's coming back up to get you. They all survived their tests." Cyborg said.

"NO! IT'S NOEL! HE'S A DANGER! PLEASE!" Starfire yelled.

"Sorry Kory, normally I'd find a way to understand you...but I can't. Don't panic! Robin will be there soon, and you can tell him. I'll find him if I can, let you know you're all right..." Cyborg said, as he watched the alien continue to scream wordlessly at the camera. Something had really gotten to her: he needed to find out ASAP. If only Jigsaw had left them some pens and paper...

"It's Savior! SAVIOR! HE MIGHT BE OUR ENEMY!" Starfire yelled.

"Star...I'm sorry, I just can't understand you." Cyborg said, again cursing his screwed-up systems. If he was anything approaching normal, he'd have been able to read her lips, as he'd told Robin. But he wasn't, and without that program functioning properly Cyborg had no clue. And fully grasping that, Starfire slumped. This made no sense. Even without sound, surely her half-machine friend had some option...

...unless...

The atmosphere.

She could swear she heard it mocking her.

It seemed...strangely familiar.

"Kory, I'm going to try and pass the info on to the rest. Robin will be there soon. Hold tight! We'll get out of this! Over."

"But Cyborg...!" Starfire whispered. "Savior..."

But Cyborg was gone now. Starfire stared helplessly at the camera, and wondered if she had been too weak to help.

And if strength had anything to do with it.

* * *

"We're getting there...just you wait Jigsaw, we'll show you how to play some games when this is done..." Cyborg said, as he began searching through the cameras again. Empty hallways. Empty hallways. The pool. Empty hallways.

The kitchen.

With Terra and Beast Boy.

"Hey! Guys!" Cyborg announced over the PA. Strangely, Beast Boy and Terra, who were nearly out of shot, DIDN'T react strongly this time. In fact, they barely reacted at all, as it took them a few seconds to start looking around for the camera. "You made it down! I knew you would!"

* * *

"...should we tell him?" Terra asked from where she sat...as Beast Boy sadly covered Sophie's body with the sheet he'd found.

"No sense hiding anything." Beast Boy said as he stood up and walked towards the camera.

"Why are you in this kitchen? Is there a...problem..." Cyborg trailed off: it was clear from Beast Boy's body language that there was. "What happened?...who did you find?"

Beast Boy mimed bat wings with his hands.

"...Sophie..." Cyborg realized. "Is she..."

Beast Boy shook his head.

"...oh...damn...damn." Cyborg said, as he lowered his head. "Oh Nigel...I'm so sorry...so sorry..."

Beast Boy's facial expression's mirrored Cyborg's words. Even Terra looked on sadly: she may have "hated" the large woman, but she had never wished her death. Not like this.

Especially when the shoe could have been on the other, nail-impaled foot.

"...how did she die?"

Beast Boy looked over, and then back at the camera, trying to put it into proper gestures.

"Never mind. Tell me when you see me. Just get down here guys. We...need to get out of here." Cyborg said. "I'm going to..."

And then Cyborg went quiet.

"...Vic?" Beast Boy said.

"...hold on guys...got a problem. I'll be right back...you keep looking for the basement, it shouldn't be too far from where you are..." Cyborg said, and then the PA went dead.

"...what just happened?" Terra asked.

"...I don't know..." Beast Boy said, suddenly worried. "...there's nothing we can do here. We better move on, find the other stairs...do what we can."

"...we can stop this, can't we?" Terra asked. "I mean...from the reports..."

"...that's one of the few things still keeping me going." Beast Boy said, as he helped Terra up again and began to leave. "I ran out of anger, fear, and adrenaline a while back."

And as Beast Boy and Terra left the kitchen, heading back along the yellow dots that had led them not to an escape but as a deadly reminder of why they had to escape...they never saw a tape recorder.

Because it was no longer there.

And had they gone the other way into the dining room...they would have gotten a far worse reminder that they had to escape.

* * *

Someone had tried to open the door.

Cyborg had thought he'd been hearing things at first...until someone had tried again, even harder. Cyborg had turned around to see the door handle on the other side jostling a bit at the motion. Cyborg narrowed his lone organic eye, and then had signed off from Terra and Beast Boy.

First he'd stood up again. Then he'd carefully tried to move. This time, he found that if he mostly dragged his left leg, as he'd theorized earlier, he could move while standing upright. Moving slowly towards the door in a semi-hopping fashion, Cyborg picked up the crowbar from the ground. He may have been a hodgepodge at the moment, but his right arm still worked well, and considering Jigsaw was neither nor had ever employed any superhuman agents, Cyborg was pretty sure a blow to the face with a rod of metal would seriously cramp the style of whoever happened to be on the other...

A knock came at the door. Cyborg paused.

...he doubted Jigsaw would knock.

But still...

The knocks came again, rapidly...and Cyborg realized they were tapping out a pattern. But it wasn't morse code. It was a rhythm.

Specifically, it was the rhythm to the chorus of the rapper Nelly's song "Number One". Cyborg relaxed. Only a few people knew that secret, and Cyborg doubted Jigsaw had tortured anyone for information.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" Cyborg said, as he dragged himself the last few steps and seized the door handle. However, his own turns of it also failed to open the door...

Until the person on the other end also began turning their knob. As it turned out, the setup was arranged so the door, while not technically locked, wouldn't open unless both door handles were turned at the same time.

"...hello?" Cyborg said, as he stepped away from the door as it opened outward, his crowbar at his side.

As the bloody arm of Noel Collins finished opening the door, as his equally blood-covered features gazed at Cyborg.

"...Victor." Savior said quietly, as Cyborg stared in surprise. "You would not believe the day I'm having."

* * *

Never let them see you sweat.

Never tip your hand.

Never let them get inside your head.

But Raven, while a believer in those views, knew what they stood for. Defying some basic aspects of the human condition.

She knew that sometimes, everyone failed in that. She'd trained herself, as best she could, to prevent that from happening.

But some things just couldn't stand.

And as Raven saw the full extent of the terrible truth Jigsaw had spoken off, her face had lost all attempts to conceal her horror.

"...I am a murderer?" John repeated, as he glanced at the final seconds of Noel's betrayal. "So what would you consider him to be?"

"...no." Raven said. "...no...how...could you..."

"You see, the problem with you Titans is that you think saving each other and relying on others will lead you to victory." John said, as he pressed a button and reverted the monitors back to their normal state, as Raven stared in her numb disbelief. "However, those ideals rely on cooperation and total devotion to the group from each member. If one member blinks or hesitates long enough, you all crumble. You ignore that inside every person on his planet, there is a primal drive to fight for one's own personal interests. Rather than use it to your advantage, you act as though it isn't there, hoping it will never surface."

Raven stared at Jigsaw, who looked back in his usual impassive way, betraying nothing.

"It's been watching you for a long time, you know. Waiting to find just the right thing to dangle in front of each of you, something you won't be able to ignore. And it found the weak link among you. However, while it wants you dead, I am no murderer. It chose me to be the instigator, but I've at least given you a chance to escape alive." John said. "So instead of focusing so much on me and my supposed failings, perhaps you should look more closely at your situation. After all, I'm not the enemy. I'm just the caretaker."

"...care...taker..." Raven whispered.

And then she lunged forward as best she could, her hands clawing at John, who was a few feet away and perfectly safe, as Raven screamed and thrashed in her chair.

As a sudden strange heat settled on the room. Jigsaw glanced up, and then back at Raven, as she bucked at the restraints...

As a faint impression of four burning red eyes imprinted over her own furious ones...

And then they vanished. The room returned to normal, as Raven collapsed back into her chair, her eyes squeezed shut and her whole body tense as a wire.

And as she swallowed down the darkness, twin tears leaked from her eyes.

Not even for that.

Not even for that.

John stood and watched, as always, as she opened her eyes again, the depths of desolation within seemingly bottomless...

And then replaced, once again, by cold rage, as she looked up at the man who, for all his claims, had killed her teammates...and killed one of their souls.

"...I swear one thing...no matter what..." Raven cursed. "That when this is all said and done, I will personally _**send you STRAIGHT TO HELL."**_

"Then find a way to live, first." John said.

"...straight. TO HELL." Raven repeated, but her voice had gone from a snarl to a whisper.

"Possibly. But if you and your friends want to survive this, you'll have to dance with the devil." John said, as he looked on the monitor screens.

As on them, Savior entered Cyborg's security room.

"And he does so love to dance."


	10. Enemy

Chapter 10: Enemy

"_A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does __**not**__ triumph, but when it is felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him."_

-George Orwell

How could this happen?

That was the question that consumed Starfire's mind, as she sat on the floor of the starting room, staring up at the camera, unable to do anything else but think.

Oh, she wasn't lamenting the terrible concept that had been revealed to her on the tape. She'd done that already, and at the moment it wouldn't help her or anyone. So with what Cyborg had told her, she'd turned 180 to another line of thought.

A line of thought she very rarely used, as its execution went contrary to who she basically was. But thanks to Robin's training, she did have the ability to think along those lines. And left without powers and any real ability to move, Starfire, in the end, had turned to it, briefly turning off Kory Anders and turning on the part of Koriand'r that Robin had helped her craft.

And so, with that done, she asked: how could it happen, as in, just what series of events would make the tape a reality?

First there was Noel's relationship with Raven, which might be enough in and of itself. Due to her and Tim's status as the "power couple" (a title she hated, as it made it sound like she had ulterior motives to her feelings, which was a concept as alien to her as much as she was alien to many humans, and in a way, as alien as thinking this way was to her normal self), Beast Boy and Terra's more up-front nature, and Scalpel and Sophie's "unusualness", people sometimes forgot that Noel and Raven were IN a relationship. They also underestimated the depth of it due to the pair's somewhat guarded response to each other in public. Savior had tried to figure out a way to personally challenge Raven's father, a high demon lord who had been said to have conquered an entire UNIVERSE, for a _chance_ at her, and that was before they'd even formed anything solid. That was deep...and depths were not always a good thing.

But at the same time, they'd never come off to Starfire as being unable to function without the other. If the relationship ever failed, Starfire didn't see the possible drama, bad blood, and worse possibilities that she could see if say, Beast Boy and Terra's relationship ended badly. Surely Savior knew that as well. Sacrificing the whole team for Raven? She'd probably personally fly down to Cocytus and shove him in Lucifer's mouth.

So if not for love...for lack of love? Could Noel put himself in the position where he would think killing his teammates for a supposedly higher goal would actually work out?

Noel had always been the type to try and study the nature of sacrifice, of closing off your heart so you could make the tough decisions for the greater good. No matter how skilled and brilliant a general you were, and even if you had the truly best intentions, you still had to send lower-ranked men to their deaths to accomplish your tasks. To save millions, sometimes you had to send thousands to their gruesome end.

But this wasn't nameless soldiers under a command. For all their disagreements, the Titans were Noel's family. Could his mind overcome the degree of moral reprehension that the concept of killing those closest to you that the goal, however true and real it might, would require? Even his?

...but it wasn't just Noel in this calculation. No.

It was the atmosphere. The evil powers that had constructed Jigsaw from fiction, constructed this damnable place in the visage of the _Saw_ films, that had captured the Titans and stolen their powers. And would have no problem, both in action and execution, of tweaking, altering, or outright corrupting things so everything would fall into place. For it, ridiculous things that made no sense were the norm. Killers walked and victims ran, yet the killers always caught up or got ahead of the victims. Help was never available. People were always stupid. For the sake of drama (and more likely just violent death), there was nothing the atmosphere could, and would not, alter to suit its own ends...

...right?

But by the nature of its makeup, the atmosphere could surely only do so much. If it wanted the Titans to destroy each other, it could only arrange things so far before it crossed into the fact that the Titans weren't doing it, the atmosphere was. If it took Noel's flaws and hammered on them until Noel was in the shape it wanted, could it even be said to be Noel any more?

...or was she underestimating the atmosphere's power?

She might have been, but she'd read the reports like all the other Titans. The atmosphere changed things, but it was either in subtle, treacherous fashion or full-on "destruction through cheating". Had it learned from the past incursions the nature of a light touch? Could it actually provided just enough rope for the Titans to hang themselves...

...and if it couldn't...

...had she somehow gotten Noel so wrong?

Would he actually kill her?

Would she die...knowing...just why the deepest circle of hell was reserved for traitors?

...was the only real enemy that...

"Starfire!"

Starfire jerked her head up from her tormented thoughts.

Robin stood there in the doorway.

And even though he was covered in blood and looked like he'd gone swimming in a pool of razor blades, Starfire couldn't recall a time when she was happier to see him. Normally she'd have run, or flown...but Robin knew why she didn't, and came to her.

"Oh Robin..." She said, as she pulled him to her, holding him tightly.

"It's all right Star. It's going to be all right..."

As the brief happiness that Starfire had felt was swallowed once more by the fear.

"...no Robin. It's not." Starfire said, as she pushed Robin away.

And pulled the tape recorder from her hemline.

"It got worse."

* * *

Savior wasn't expecting it either, as Cyborg surged forward...and clasped him in a grateful hug. True, the two weren't exceptionally close, but having a teammate whose fate he didn't know show up alive served.

"Noel, man! Oh thank god, you're all right!" Cyborg said...and then realized what he was hugging, as he backed up...

And lost his balance, falling on his rear. He grunted and then looked up at Savior sheepishly for a second, before he recalled why he'd stopped holding the man: the blood. Savior was covered in it.

"Noel, geezus! _Are_ you all right?"

"What?...oh." Savior said, as he looked down at himself. "...trap. Bad. But...yeah. Looks worse then it is."

"...if you say so. Still, damn." Cyborg said as he tried to get up. Savior stepped over, helping the machine teen.

"Careful! Don't let the door close! I don't wanna get locked in here again!"

"...door doesn't seem to be weighted that way." Savior said, as he peered back at the still open door. To be on the safe side, he moved back and pushed the door open a bit further, making sure it stayed still and didn't just close slowly.

"Thanks man." Cyborg said as Savior finished his adjustment. "You heard my announcement?"

"...yeah. Got separated from the group...trap...but made it. Heard you. Found you..."

"Good thing. You look a mess." Cyborg said. "My own trap really messed me up too, it's a long story...I couldn't quite put myself together again. Need your help with that." Cyborg said, as he readjusted his weight and began heading back into the room.

"Is that why you're leaking?" Savior said. Cyborg was confused, until Savior pointed to the wires coming out of his chest.

"Oh yeah, that. They stole my battery, drained my backup...needed to improvise a recharge."

"So I assume they stripped you clean as well." Savior said, as he looked around the room, his eyes settling on the TV screens.

"Wouldn't you know it! They took everything! They took my weapons, they took my tools, they took my backup...damn it, I just realized they took my favorite taser!"

"Well I...you have a favorite...taser?" Savior said in confusion.

"Yeah, it was the first thing I ever used to catch a crook...gangbanger, wannabe rapper, took offense to an old friend of mine and tried a drive-by, didn't work...he called himself Scotch Tape...haven't thought of him in years..." Cyborg mused...as Savior reared over and began violently coughing. "Oh man! Are you sure you're all right Noel?"

"Nothing...you can do." Savior whispered in reply.

"Maybe not...I've got medical kits over here..." Cyborg said, as he headed over to the closet as best he could.

"No Cyborg."

Cyborg stopped.

"I need you to do something else first."

Cyborg turned back around.

* * *

Robin stared at the tape as it finished unveiling its terrible secret. Starfire, in turn, looked at Robin, whose face betrayed nothing.

Robin lowered the tape, staring off in the distance for a few moments...and then he dropped it and turned towards Starfire, sliding under her arm and lifting her up.

"Let's go."

"Robin..."

"I know Star. I know what this means, both certain and suggested. And I also know I can't do a damn thing about any of it up here. But considering the ways things have gone, it's probably best not to leave you on your own."

"But...I know...what he's like..." Starfire said.

"It's a tape. It's not hypnosis. There's no guarantee Noel would do anything." Robin said.

"But Robin...of all of us, he's been exposed to this atmosphere the most. He even retained a residual fraction of it, that one time during the winter holidays..." Starfire said.

"And that might mean he's more attuned to it then we are, and hence can resist it better. That he's actually at an ADVANTAGE." Robin said. "I don't know for certain what's going to happen Star. Noel still has his free will. He can still make a choice."

"I know Robin...I wish I had that conviction..." Starfire said. "But this...to it, we're all actors on a stage. And the play's all that matters."

* * *

"I don't know man. I've been announcing on all the floors, telling them to come down here...if Raven was out there..."

"You didn't see me on camera either." Savior said from where he leaned against the wall, going through the medical kits as he tended to his injuries. "Please..."

"All right man...I do need to find her." Cyborg said from where he knelt, studying the wall of TV's, his crowbar on the floor beside him. Just in case the next person who showed up wasn't as friendly.

"Who's...missing..."

"Well, Gar, Tara, Tim, and Kory made it...but Sophie..." Cyborg said, trailing off before he lowered and shook his head.

"...aw no. Nigel." Savior replied, lowering his head. "It's going to..."

"I know. But I can't find him. Or Rob. Damn it, I hope they're all right." Cyborg said, as he began reactivating the systems. "Terra and B, they're on their way down here too...hopefully get here soon."

"Then try and find Raven...or Gauntlet, Scalpel...you know..." Savior said, as he closed his eyes before another wracking cough seized him.

"I think you might have damaged yourself worse then you think, Noel." Cyborg said as he looked behind him, seeing his teammate leaning on the wall with his eyes closed.

"...more then a possibility." Savior whispered in return. Cyborg looked grimly at Noel, and then turned back to his work.

"Attention! This is Cyborg. Raven, Gauntlet, Scalpel, please attempt contact. Approach the nearest camera to do so. Be warned, I have no sound capabilities and hence I cannot hear you, Over." Cyborg said, and waited.

Savior's shadow fell over him, and Cyborg glanced up.

"...how long are you giving them to reply?"

"About 30 seconds give or take."

"...seems reasonable. Can I help in any way?"

"Well, if you want to go into the computer banks there and take a look to see if I missed anything that was obviously broken, I'd appreciate it." Cyborg said, as he watched the screens.

"...ok..." Savior said, as he walked over to the computer bank, kneeling down and peering inside. Cyborg glanced behind himself again.

"Is there enough light?"

"Somewhat...there's this big cord cut open..."

"No I did that. Failed option for charging myself back up."

"Why?"

"Too strong. Would have crashed my systems." Cyborg said as he turned back to the screens. No answer. Time to move on.

"Attention! This is Cyborg..."

* * *

Robin and Starfire looked up as Robin helped his injured girlfriend along: they were on the third floor now and trying to locate the other stairway, as the announcement came over the PA.

"...that's...odd..." Robin began.

"Robin! I spoke with Cyborg, but he couldn't understand me! Maybe he can understand you! Warn him! Quickly! Quickly!"

"Oh damn...where was a camera...I thought I saw one a few turns back...!" Robin said as he tried to turn around.

"Leave me! I'll slow you down!"

Robin felt rather guilty dumping Starfire down like she was a sack of potatoes, but she had a point, as he put her down and ran back the way he came, trying to remember where the damn camera was...

"...cannot hear you..." The voice was saying, as Robin turned a corner and saw the camera at the end of the hallway.

"There you are! CYBORG! CYBORG!" Robin yelled as he ran towards it: he knew it was futile, but he did it anyway, as he raced in front of the camera and waved his arms.

...nothing. He was too late. Robin cursed lowly to himself and went back the way he came.

"You didn't make it." Starfire said sadly as Robin returned.

"No. And no time to sit around and wait for him to loop back here." Robin said as he helped Starfire back up and continued onward.  
"...Robin, what does it mean?"

"I don't know." Robin replied, as he turned the corner...and found the staircase. Feeling relieved, he headed towards it.

"The announcement is different, could it..."

"I don't know Star." Robin replied, his tone worried and terse. "And I dare not assume anything. Not yet. It could..."

And then Robin ground to a halt at the stairway entrance.

He'd just discovered said stairway was lacking a crucial element: stairs. For a moment Robin wondered if he'd gone in a circle, before he realized that the upward stairs were missing too.

It took Robin another second to spy the ladder. His eyes narrowed.

"Lead to trouble." Robin finished.

* * *

As Raven forced her weary eyes open. God she felt tired. Whether it was the poison or the terrible reality she'd been faced with, her body felt leaden and her mind felt like it was drifting in a soup. These factors had not helped her in her mental quest to find a way to escape. And the option of being rescued had been anticipated by Jigsaw and used to his ends in the worst way possible. If she didn't have firsthand experience with the place, Raven would have wondered if she was already dead and in hell.

But she wasn't. She was still alive. And she'd heard something. The PA again.

Except this time, it had mentioned her directly by name.

Why would it do...

And Raven remembered just what she had seen before her senses had faded. What was still on Jigsaw's observation screens, as he stood and watched them from the side.

The announcement came again, slightly louder this time. Must have actually been in on the actual floor Raven was on.

Her name...

...Rob's name. Nigel's name.

She knew their fates.

And what it meant for her name to be attached to the announcement.

"...no..." Raven whispered to herself. "No no no no no no NO...!"

* * *

"Be warned, I have no sound capabilities and hence I cannot hear you, Over." Cyborg said, and moved on to the next floor, grimacing at his bad luck. He couldn't even find B and the others, let alone the missing...

A clattering noise startled Cyborg, and he whirled around.

Savior stood near the computer bank, looking back at Cyborg.

"Sorry. Accidentally kicked that when I got up." Savior said dully, pointing to the hacksaw, which was now on the other side of the room near the safe Cyborg had found his antidote in.

"No problem man. Just gave me a scare." Cyborg said as he turned back around.

"You don't seem to be having any luck." Savior said, as he walked over to Cyborg again, kneeling down behind him and looking at the TV screens.

"No man...no sign of any of them."

"Anything else we could use?"

"...well, just that I think this is the entrance." Cyborg said, as he brought up a camera that showed twin staircases descending from each end of a balcony. "Can't be sure, but I think this is in the corner of the room we'll use to get out."

"It doesn't look like...any other probable room..." Savior said, and once again began coughing violently.

"Geez Noel, we need to get out of here, I don't think you're gonna last much longer."

"I...know..." Savior wheezed, as he gestured towards one of the TV's that only showed snow. "Why aren't they working?"

"This system's all screwed up. I'm doing the best with what I have."

"And you can't find Raven. Or the others."

"No." Cyborg said grimly, as he stared at the wall of TV's.

"Could she be in...one of the dead zones?"

"She might...or worse." Cyborg said with nihilistic dread.

"No...no she's not." Savior said, as he stood up behind Cyborg.

"I don't think so either man." Cyborg said. "But you have to have faith."

"But you can't find her."

"I looked everywhere I could. Did all that was available to me. Can't do much else, at least down here." Cyborg said.

"...okay." Savior said with a quiet finality. Cyborg sighed: he wished he could have helped more. Maybe things would get better when the certain survivors found each other. Of course, he'd have to be fixed up some more.

"Sorry man." Cyborg said, as he started standing up...damn his legs were all screwed up again. He needed a brace, where was his crowbar...

...wait where _was_ his crowbar...

"...so am I." Savior said.

As he reared back and rammed the end of the crowbar right through Cyborg's dissembled back.

Cyborg screamed, even as his systems went completely crazy, the metal rod smashing through part of his preserved spine and other delicate machinery, as Cyborg thrashed in his torment...and his sheer surreal shock. What the hell had just happened how had...

Noel had...

...HOW?

WHY?

Cyborg somehow turned around...as Savior, like he was walking to the gallows, stepped over to the computer banks where he'd found his answer. There was a reason he'd kicked the hacksaw across the room accidentally. He'd been using it.

To cut away more of the thick covering of the large cord Cyborg had rejected, peeling away a large section of the main sheath of it like a banana

And to cut away at the sheaths of a few of the wires within.

As Noel seized them and ripped them free of the group, the ends sparking with electrical power, as the wall of TV's and the lights on the room flickered, as Cyborg stared in utter shock.

"NOEL! NOEL WHAT THE HELL...!" Cyborg yelled.

And then his left leg broke down, and Cyborg fell backwards, another scream escaping him as he landed on the crowbar, driving it in deeper as his systems began overloading from the trauma.

As Savior approached with the sparking wires, his eyes dead. Cyborg stared at the sight, an impossible one. Noel had...

Noel was killing him.

As Savior stopped, curling his hands more tightly around the loosed wires.

"...no...no Noel...please...no...!" Cyborg gasped. This wasn't happening. He was still rebooting. This was a nightmare...

Except his computers didn't dream. This was stark reality.

And it was about to crash down on Cyborg.

"...please...NOT THIS WAY!"

"No other." Savior replied.

And he rammed the wires into Cyborg's chest, and Cyborg screamed again as the electrical current shot into his system, a direct line of power far too strong to properly focus under controlled circumstances, let alone this, as the power exploded through his body and mind, ripping everything apart, and all Cyborg could do was scream as smoke and fire erupted inside him, as his vision exploded with one last set of screaming alarms and then went black.

Cyborg's body seized up and then went completely limp, smoke wafting from his mouth and ears, as Savior stepped back. A moment later, his body crumpled, breaking apart into debris, leaving nothing but a bunch of wreckage and a burning torso.

Meat. Junk. All the same in the end.

Savior closed his eyes, as one faint tear trailed down his face.

"...I'm sorry Cyborg..." Savior said quietly. "But it's the only way to save her...and save you all..."

And Savior opened his eyes again.

And turned around.

As Beast Boy and Terra stood in silent, frozen horror in the doorway.

Savior looked back at them for a second.

"...I wish you hadn't seen that."

And he reached behind himself and under his shirt, pulling the gun from the back of his pants.

"Makes it harder!"

The gunshot exploded through the room.

* * *

"...no..." Raven said, watching the horror play out in real time. Somehow, seeing it as it happened was even worse.

" No? You can see it with your own eyes, Raven. He's willing to do whatever it takes to save himself... and you." John said.

"...I don't want this...rather die...how could..." Raven whispered.

"Because he wouldn't. He'd rather have the blood of his teammates on his hands than let you both die for their sakes."

Raven stared. It didn't make sense. Savior had never had the greatest social skills, but this...how...

"...Noel...even if...how could you think..." Raven said. She remembered, too well, the report given on the HIVE incursion. The death was reversible. But even THEN...

...was this an example of the grand lie, a lie so big and repeated so often you believed it, even when you knew in some part of you it was completely wrong?

...or was this...

...the real truth?

"People are remarkable in their ability to adapt. Perhaps it's simply the case that he finally learned what was most important in his life." John said, as he turned back to his monitors. "Even if others, like you, cannot."

And as Raven stared on, frozen in the cruelty of the fact that Savior had thrown away everything seemingly for the sake of her...

As if she could condone this...

As if they could forgive it...

As if in his supposed saving, he hadn't become the exact opposite of his name.

The enemy.

* * *

As the bullet splintered the door frame to Beast Boy's immediate right, as he recoiled, nearly falling down. What the hell was going on!

...was Noel trying to...?

The second bullet was so close to Beast Boy's ear that he could have sworn it took a layer of cartilage with it, as Terra recoiled, screaming in surprised terror at how things had gone so bad so suddenly. They'd found that the other staircase DID have stairs going to the basement (apparently they weren't ALL removed from the third floor down), and that the door down there wasn't locked.

And then they'd heard the screaming.

And found the last thing they'd ever expected.

Until Noel actually fired at them.

Beast Boy's brain nearly shut down. Had this happened earlier in his superhero career, he would have.

But he'd been a Titan too long, and he'd learned how to react on instinct, as he pulled Terra around the door.

"CLOSE IT!" He yelled, as he threw himself around the door, dragging Terra with him, as Savior stalked towards the open door, as Beast Boy threw himself into the door, barely noticing his screaming arms and upper body as fear exploded anew through him, trying to force the heavy door shut, Terra helping him as best she could...

Savior's hand snaked through the crack at the last minute, Savior grunting as the door closed on his upper arm, even as he clawed for Terra's shoulder. She recoiled with another cry.

"What's going on!"

"JUST RUN!" Beast Boy screamed as he grabbed Terra and pulled her away, dragging her down the hall as best he could. Terra tried to help, but her legs fought her every step of the way.

With another grunt of effort, Savior pushed the door back open, but the action bought the pair of Titans several crucial seconds, and as Savior aimed around the door the pair of them disappeared around the corner.

Damn. Well, Savior had seen them standing in the doorway long enough to tell Terra was clearly injured. That would slow them down, a fact that did not apply to him, as Savior slid around the door and once more stalked down the hallway, the gun at his side as he turned the corner...

And Beast Boy rammed the door right into him.

Savior stumbled back, caught completely off guard and full in the face by the length of wood. Beast Boy had realized outrunning Noel was a problem as well. And had happened to spot the open, untrapped door. He'd formed a desperate gambit within a second, and when Noel had come around the corner Beast Boy had pushed/opened the door as hard as he could.

But even as Savior's senses turned upside down and he began to fall, he managed to turn around and fall on his gun, smothering it and preventing it from being taken from him.

In a righteous world, it would have discharged into him, ending his terrible quest.

But the forces in charge were anything but righteous.

Beast Boy had hoped he'd lose the weapon as well, but one second of observation made him realize it wasn't happening, and he couldn't waste another second, as he grabbed up Terra from where she leaned against the wall, eyes wide in terror as she watched Noel try and get up.

And then he collapsed again. He'd clearly taken a considerable blow.

"Beast Boy...!" Terra cried as she was dragged off.

"NO TIME! WE HAVE TO RUN!" Beast Boy screamed, and did so, pulling Terra away as he went around the corner, trying to make it back to the stairs.

As he realized, just as Starfire had, that the real trap had just been sprung.

* * *

"...is something wrong Tim?" Starfire asked.

Robin did not reply, as he cocked his head. He really couldn't afford to pause, considering he was climbing down the ladder with Starfire hanging onto him around his shoulders. Unlike Starfire, Robin hadn't suffered any type of crippling damage, but it still wasn't easy to climb down a ladder with an extra hundred-plus pounds on you.

But despite the bad position to do so, he paused anyway. He thought he'd heard something.

"Tim...?"

"Did you hear anything unusual Star?" Robin said, as he resumed climbing downward.

"Just your breathing?"

"...thought I heard a banging...not sure." Robin said.

"Considering our situation, it is probably good to note anything that seems unusual."

"Right...though we really do have bigger problems at hand." Robin said, as he kept climbing down.

* * *

Robin thought he had it bad...

"Oh god Gar...what happened...what HAPPENED?" Tara half-whined and half-cried as Beast Boy dragged her along the hallway. Terra kept trying to help out as best she could, but he was still pulling most of her weight.

"I don't know...! I just...Vic...oh god..." Beast Boy gasped, as another aspect of the reality fully sunk into him. Victor was dead. His best friend in the world, dead.

Killed by one of their own.

"What happened...was that...Noel!?"

"...Jigsaw doesn't replace people." Beast Boy rasped, as he turned the corner, constantly expecting to hear another gunshot, to see Savior's bloody visage stride into view before them, or to hear his footsteps behind them.

"...then WHY?"

"I don't know! He just and I...I...his test." Beast Boy whispered. "...it can't be anything else. It must be his test."

"His _TEST_? His test is to kill us?"

"...it has to be..."

"But...he wouldn't! Not even NOEL could, he...what the _hell happened?!_"

"I don't know!" Beast Boy repeated, even as he was aware tears were running down his face. "I don't...I..."

And then he remembered.

"_You may be at even more risk. Your talent is based in your nervous system. It might even be partially composed of nervous tissue. That's more damage to you if you try and force its emergence: you may expose it faster to the toxin, cause it to break down quicker..."_

"Oh god..." Beast Boy said, as he recalled Scalpel's assessment. Had he been right?

If he had...it was not in the way he assumed. He'd suspected that Noel might get weaker and sicker then the other Titans due to the toxin having more to affect. But instead...

"What?"

"The poison, t-the nerve poison...! Noel must not have gotten an antidote...it was a nerve TOXIN! Savior's power is based in the nervous system... maybe that helped him but, but...his brain! With a constant poison working at it...his brain! Maybe it damaged his brain!"

"You mean like syphilis?" Terra asked. Beast Boy didn't inquire how she happened to know that (the answer was TV).

"Yes! A poison...causing brain damage...and this damn atmosphere...my god." Beast Boy gasped. "The moral centers...the parts of the brain that control empathy...Jigsaw's tumor killed them and...if his test was to kill us...and if the poison did the same...if they're dead...!"

"...Then so are we! COME ON!" Terra yelled, as she tried to put more effort into her own running.

As her ankle violently twisted, and she went down with a scream.

"Oh no...NOT THIS!" Beast Boy cursed, as he stopped and bent down, helping Terra up again. "DAMN IT! DAMN YOU! _**DAMN YOU!**_

Whether Beast Boy was cursing the atmosphere, Jigsaw, Noel, or something else entirely, even he didn't know, as he tried to keep pulling Terra along. He had to get away...they had to hide...

"...maybe we should...call for help..." Terra gasped.

"No! Noel could hear us!"

"...why is this happening to us Gar..."

"...because hell is a sore loser." Beast Boy cursed. "And you were right. This IS hell."

* * *

"...Rob?" Robin said, as he looked at the Titan's body.

He and Starfire had, in the end, made it down to the first floor. Just like Beast Boy and Terra, they'd found the basement door locked. Just like them, they'd retraced their steps to the first floor to try and find another way down.

But they'd made a few different turns, and as a result, instead of passing by the kitchen, they'd passed by the dining room.

Normally, Robin wouldn't have given it a second glance.

Except the door was open.

And Robin had seen Gauntlet's form through it.

The real notable thing would never be known: Savior had closed the door when he'd left the pair.

For a moment, Robin had had hope. Maybe he was just resting. Maybe he'd passed out. Maybe things would be all right.

And despite knowing, deep down, the likely truth, it still hit Robin like a ton of bricks when he went through the door, pulling Starfire with him.

And saw the hole in Gauntlet's forehead.

Robin clenched his jaw and glanced down, as Starfire began to quietly sob beside him. Robin located a mostly non-rotten chair, set Starfire on it, and knelt down to more closely investigate Rob's body.

And he didn't have to be a CSI or a _Saw _devotee to spot the incongruity of Rob's fatal wound. No trap had made this.

"...Robin..." Starfire said. Robin looked back at the alien, who was pointing...to her fellow alien, set in a chair nearby. He'd been so tunnel-visioned by Rob, he hadn't even seen Nigel.

The shocking pain of loss crashed through Robin again, even as he steeled himself to keep up his brave front for Starfire. His emotion showed, but not to the degree he really felt. He had to be strong for her.

He had to be strong for the friends he had to avenge, as he walked over and investigated Nigel. Unlike Rob, the alien had been shot multiple times. But the same central hole, likely the killing shot, marked Scalpel's features, an execution shot in reverse. Like Rob, his eyes were closed, though Scalpel's body was posed more thoroughly. Robin recognized it as a Blacktrianian burial custom: the most elite and renowned warriors and rulers were buried, cremated, or whatnot seated in thrones, indicating their prestige in their life, and the concept that perhaps they may yet defeat death itself and return to the world of living, and that they'd want to be back on their feet as quickly as possible.

But Scalpel was not coming back.

Not unless Robin could stop this terrible evil.

"...what killed them?" Starfire asked quietly.

And it was in Starfire's question that Robin realized his worst fear. Both Scalpel and Gauntlet had injuries, but they didn't match the kind of wounds that could be called defensive. And they had been killed with firearms.

Which meant they had been shot by someone who they had trusted enough to get close to do it. Close enough that Robin had seen faint powder burns on Gauntlet's forehead.

That fact, combined with the tape...

"...they were shot." Robin said, as he looked at Starfire, his grim features causing the sick horror to wash over her again. The villain Jigsaw killed with traps. If they were dead by firearms...

...the tape had come true.

Somehow, it had come true.

"...no..."

"...we have to stop him." Robin said, as he walked over to Starfire. "By any means necessary."

"..." Starfire said, as she swallowed the coldness, as she brought her warrior's instincts to bear. Robin was right. They would stop him.

And yet, in the end, Starfire did not ask for clarity on who "he" was.

"Come on." Robin said, as he helped Starfire up and headed off.

...to the kitchen. Where one last painful discovery awaited.

Maybe it was the discovery of Sophie's body that did it. Maybe it was the fact that like Savior, Robin had closed the door to the dining room.

Or maybe...it was something wrenchingly familiar.

For when a terrified Beast Boy and Terra retreated past the dining room door, making a giant racket despite Beast Boy's expressed desire to be quiet...Robin and Starfire didn't hear a thing.

Neither did they hear what came in their wake, but that was more understandable.

It was as quiet as death itself.

* * *

Jigsaw would swear he never killed or harmed anyone. As far as Raven was concerned, Jigsaw was a liar.

Because the events he was forcing her to watch play out, as the cameras tracked Beast Boy and Terra's desperate retreat, and then Savior following after them, was as torturous as if he'd put her in something out of the Inquisition. Oh, Jigsaw didn't mean anything by it. He was simply observing events as they occurred. This wasn't _A Clockwork Orange,_ Raven wasn't being forced to watch.

But...how could she look away?

"Did you think he began this test with the intention of only stopping halfway?" Jigsaw suddenly asked. Raven blinked, and then looked at him. She could not think of a reply to his words: she could barely even begin to grasp that this was happening to begin with.

"Even now, when you think your reality is being shattered, do you really consider yourself or your teammates to be people that don't fully commit to action? From all that I've learned, this trait of determination that you all have is probably your greatest strength. When you make a decision, regardless of how great the risk or the cost, you see it through." John said."That is how you Titans managed to survive all these years. The Final Night, the return of Trigon, The End of Metal... your powers and gifts aided you, but it was the determination you all had to survive that ensured you would win in the end. Yet, here you are... giving up because the person you claim to love thinks you're the most valuable thing in the world. He decided to kill them all, and he's so determined that he's managed to hold back his hesitations. He certainly appreciates the one thing he thinks is worth living for, Raven. Do you feel the same way?"  
"...this...this isn't love..." Raven whispered. "This is murder...this is insanity...this is tearing down everything because of one thing...he should know better...he should have...should have..."

"Given up? Just laid down and died, knowing that such inaction would cause your death too?" John said, and gave that cursed chuckle again. So shattered was Raven's sense of self that she barely noticed it this time. "A person with a history like yours would find it difficult to understand that sort of pain. With your past, and a father like yours, I can't hold it against you... but I know what the loss of a loved one can do to a person, Raven. It's a scar that never heals, one that stays with you. You can choose to live on... or you can let it determine your future. He loved his mother more than anything in the world, and she died. There was nothing he could do to prevent it. While you're hardly anything like a replacement, he had managed to move on, to find love. And now, I've offered him a choice. To give up and let you die... or to prevent it."

"...he's destroying everything we could ever have...how is that saving me?" Raven said. "You may as well solve a bleeding wound by cutting out the heart that pumps the blood."

"...tell me, Raven, would you think any differently of him if they were criminals instead of your teammates? Worthless people in this rotting society who only drag it down?" John asked. Raven stared at him.

"...no." Raven said, as she felt the rage surging back. " No exceptions. Once you start compromising the morals, you need a line somewhere. We already bend it enough. NO FURTHER. Or else we're no better then you!"

"Than me? I don't kill people, Raven. I give them choices, and my methods are far more effective than yours...You catch criminals and in weeks, they escape and wreak havoc in the streets. An endless cycle that teaches them nothing. But my tests offer instant rehabilitation. If they choose survival, they will never again take advantage of their lives or anyone else's. If they fail, then the world is better off."

"...YOU THINK YOU'VE EVER DONE ANYTHING EXCEPT CAUSE MORE PAIN?" Raven suddenly screamed, as her eyes blazed. "AND YOU DARE CALL ME DELUSIONAL...delusional..."

Raven sank back down, her eyes closed tight. She couldn't give in. Couldn't let it loose. It would kill and harm more then her friends, or even Noel, ever would.

Her pain was nothing compared to the pain it would cause.

"...Wasn't your boyfriend one of the ones that attested to how clarifying pain can be?" John asked.

"...what you think is clarity..." Raven whispered. "...is sometimes the greatest lie of all."

"Sometimes, Raven?" John said. "You don't seem to have much conviction. And even if you did, it's obviously waning. Even now, you have this voice in the back of your head, screaming at you to save yourself and kill me. That urge to survive isn't gone, Raven. You're just doing your best to ignore it... and failing."

"...I may die...we all may...but you will not win..." Raven whispered. "No matter what...you will not win..."

"That will hardly be the case, Raven." John said. "The Titans will die. It's not prophecy. It's human nature. If you don't believe me... just watch for yourself."

And John turned back to his monitors, which had been showing the chase the whole time, from the ground floor onto the 1st one.

And as Raven watched, somehow, her horror increased even more. Despite their injuries, Beast Boy and Terra were clearly moving much faster then Noel, who had decided to pursue his targets in a cold walking fashion. They should have been putting distance between him and them. Hell, they should have lost him entirely...

But of course, they didn't.

That wasn't how the movies worked.

Human nature...?

What commanded here was anything but natural.

If that factor occurred to Beast Boy and Terra, it didn't slow them down. They continued onward.

Never knowing that their efforts were just the motions in the web to bring the spider to them.

* * *

Where else could they go?

Beast Boy and Terra had, without thinking it through, fled back up the stairs after crossing the ground floor...and gotten a brutal reminder of just how much trouble they were in upon reaching the first floor...and coming face to face with the ladder. It might as well have been a sheer wall: there was no way Terra and Beast Boy could climb back up to even the second floor with the needed speed to escape, not with their injuries. Trying would just leave them a sitting duck. Left with no other option, the pair had fled onto the first floor.

But that was just one floor: where could they hide?

But Beast Boy refused to let himself be trapped, as he dragged Terra along. But that desire might not last much longer. His girlfriend had, for all her efforts, hit her limits, and she was becoming more and more dead weight. And even Beast Boy knew, deep down, that his latest spike of fear-fueled adrenaline (apparently he'd been erroneous in his earlier assessment) wasn't going to last forever: hell, it might not last another minute.

"Gar..." Terra wheezed.

"It's all right Tara. He's not a bloodhound. Maybe we can double back...confuse him...if his brain's being destroyed surely some negative effects have to kick in soon...!"

"Gar...it won't let it."

Beast Boy stopped for a moment, looking at Terra.

"It's got him. He belongs to it now." Terra whispered. "It will maximize...the advantages...and ignore...the reality...of the downsides it would bring..."

Beast Boy stared in sick despair.

"...leave me."

"No."

"I can't..."

"NO!" Beast Boy yelled, finding yet another wind inside him as he continued on.

"Leave me...stop this...undo it..."

"...I can't..." Beast Boy said, as fresh tears stained his cheeks. How could he leave a teammate behind to die? Damn any possible reversals, how could he...

Had to get away...

Had to stop this...

Had to save...

The vicious coughing hit Beast Boy's ears a second before he went around the corner. He tried to stop...

Too late.

Savior stood in the hallway, leaning on the wall as he violently retched, blood spilling from his lips as he looked down at the mess.

Beast Boy froze, as Terra tried to stifle a small gasp.

She didn't stifle it enough, as Savior's head snapped back up.

"Oh no." Beast Boy said.

Savior snapped up the gun.

And then doubled over again as his cough returned with twice the fury, as more blood spilled from his mouth, dangling from ropes of saliva. The hallway rang with the gunshot as it impacted the ceiling just above Beast Boy's head, as he whirled around and ran, dragging Terra along with him.

Had to get away...had to escape...

"Gar..."

Beast Boy turned around another corner...and saw the elevators at the other end of the hallway.

And the open doors of one.

"COME ON!" Beast Boy screamed, as he started down the hallway, trying to fight through his pain, his exhaustion, and the crippling sense of futility...

"...Gar..." Terra whispered.

As the final realization hit Beast Boy as he closed in on the doors.

There was no actual elevator.

As Savior came around the corner, even as Beast Boy tried to rethink in the microseconds he had, he could still run to either side, maybe hide in a room, another door, maybe find some old furniture to use as a weapon...!

"I love you." Terra said.

And she shoved Beast Boy away from her.

As the gunshot slammed into Beast Boy's ears...and through Terra.

Beast Boy sat where he had fallen, looking at Terra, somehow standing despite it all...

As she looked back at him, with pained eyes...and no regrets.

"Run." She somehow managed to say.

As another bullet smashed through her form. Somehow, somehow...she stayed up...even taking one step...

"Hell is other people." She whispered.

And then she fell through the open elevator doors, disappearing into the dark.

"TERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Beast Boy screamed, as she fell.

And a bullet slammed into the floor by Beast Boy, missing him by mere inches. Somehow, Beast Boy found himself scrambling back and getting back up as he ran, self-loathing snarling through him but unable to match his basic survival instincts.

And in the tiny part of sense he had left, he refused to waste Terra's sacrifice.

And so Beast Boy fled.

And moments later, Savior approached the spot where he'd been. He paused from his chase to peer down into the elevator shaft, managing to spot Terra's shattered form in the ruins below. The fall would have killed her even if she hadn't been shot.

For a moment, Savior's heart screamed in terrible agony.

And then it was swallowed by the cold dark once more.

There was a mission to do.

It was the only way to save her.

* * *

And as Savior disappeared from view of the hidden camera that watched him, John turned towards Raven once more. He said nothing. Just watched.

As Raven, having watched Terra's sacrifice, slumped back down. She had nothing to say herself.

She had nothing, period. Had this happened to any of her other teammates, she would have been affected just as badly...

But she knew none of her other teammates could have been manipulated into this. Only him. And in the flight of Beast Boy and Terra, and Terra's ultimate fate, Raven realized just how what they had, Terra and Beast Boy's loyalty and sacrificing acting as a dark mirror to her and Noel. And how for them, it had been used to destroy it all.

And it was the wretched inevitability of it that fully stripped Raven of everything she had left. She did not want to die. She did not want Jigsaw to win.

But she didn't have any reason to win either.

Her love had become a monster.

What did it say if she did as well?

And so she sat there, saying nothing. Unmoving. As if she was already dead.

And without a word, John turned away once more. As far as he was concerned, Raven had just conceded her game.

And that left no reason for him to stay here, as he pressed a few last keys on the keyboard. Raven was dimly aware that the room was becoming slightly brighter, but her broken mind couldn't even begin to process why.

"Your friends are going to die." John said. "It's the simple truth. However, it's a truth you have the opportunity to change. You can still make a different choice, Raven... even if there are no guarantees."

Raven had nothing to say to that.

"I had hoped you and your friends would have valued your own lives more. My only regret is to see such potential wasted for the sake of loyalties that are obviously not returned." John said. "But, there is a lesson in this. Though you understand it, your refusal to accept it has its consequences. Your choice to die... it just shows that for all your potential, there is hardly any strength behind it."

John turned back to Raven, as he looked down at her. For once, she did not return his gaze.

"This is the way the world works, Raven. It is harsh, cruel, and apathetic. You have to choose if it's worth living in." John said. "You can still change your choice, Raven. Don't forget the rules."

And Jigsaw donned his pig mask as he turned away, as he pressed one final key turning the monitors off.

"And be swift." Jigsaw said. "The game is almost over."

And with that he was gone, leaving Raven alone in the near-dark.

And as she sat there, she too began to cough up blood.


	11. Abattoir

Chapter 11: Abattoir

"_Real tragedy is never resolved. It goes on hopelessly for ever."_

-Chinua Achebe

It wasn't the same.

That was what Noel had been thinking, as he walked at his slow hunter's pace. And it wasn't just because he'd just brutally killed over half his teammates. No. Part of him was still crying and screaming in agony over what he'd done.

But that part was being slowly smothered by Noel's realization.

He didn't know why he had thought of it. Maybe it was just a random twist of his synapses. But during the time he'd pursued Beast Boy and Terra, he'd wondered just why he was so intent on catching them. Just why Raven had to be saved, no matter the cost.

And he thought he knew.

It wasn't the same.

And if that was true, his teammates would never understand it. Their minds were simply too shackled by what they were.

Only Noel could make the necessary sacrifice.

Henh...wasn't that always the case.

With both Cyborg and Terra dead, Savior figured Beast Boy wouldn't have much fight left in him. But Noel hadn't forgotten the saying about cornered animals, and that held even more true for someone like Beast Boy, who was all animals and human at the same time.

The question would be if he was too human.

And whether or not that was a weakness.

And so Noel carefully crept down the hallway after Beast Boy, gun at the ready. Beast Boy had fled down an essential dead end (as far as Noel could tell), which meant he'd have to double back eventually...

If he wasn't already trying it, as Noel came to the corner of the hallway. He'd learned his lesson, and this time carefully "sliced the pie" around the corner, ready to snap up his firearm and shoot: he wasn't going to risk holding the gun out and have Beast Boy break something over his arms. That was what Robin had taught them to do under certain circumstances anyway, and who knew what one remembered in times like this...

No Beast Boy...

...and a closing door.

Savior paused for a moment, studying the situation. Could Beast Boy be stupid enough to corner himself? He'd never been one for tactical thinking...not to mention his likely mental state.

Maybe he was going to try an ambush...

...or maybe that was what he wanted Noel to think.

Noel carefully approached the door, trying to see as best he could through the opening. No Beast Boy. And Savior doubted he could hold himself above the door entrance, not with his arm injuries...

...still...

Savior whirled around and kicked the door behind him.

It did not swing open, revealing a Beast Boy trick. Instead, Noel's foot kicked right through the rotten wood of the door. Savior cursed and yanked his limb free, as he swung the gun up...

As Beast Boy burst from the initial room Noel had been studying and leapt on Savior's back.

For all he'd suffered, he was still a Titan.

"YOU BASTARD!" Beast Boy screamed, as he clamped his left arm around Savior's neck, immediately cutting off his air even as Savior stumbled forward and crashed through the rotten door, the whole wood piece splintering to pieces as Savior tried to recover and bring his gun up.

As Beast Boy intercepted it with his other arm, seizing Savior's wrist and keeping him from fully bringing the gun around, even as he squeezed with all his fury-driven might with his other arm.

"KILL YOU! KILL YOU!" Beast Boy screamed, as Savior staggered and thrashed around the room...and then turned a stumble into a thrusting ram, as he smashed Beast Boy into the nearest wall. Beast Boy's grip loosened but didn't fail, as Savior launched off the wall and tried to bring his gun around again...

As Beast Boy sank his teeth into Noel's wrist, finally drawing a yell of pain from the bloodstained demoniac, as Savior violently thrashed, even as his vision began to dim due to lack of oxygen...

As he lost his balance once more and stumbled violently to the right.

And crashed right through the rotten wall, smashing into the room beyond...

Whose floor proved less stable then the previous ones, as it shattered beneath the grappling pair, sending them tumbling down into the room below in a shower of debris and rotten furniture.

* * *

"...what was that?" Starfire said, looking up from where she sat on the kitchen counter, as Robin glanced up from where he was investigating Sophie's body: he had just located the fatal knife wound when he'd hear the distant noise. This time, Starfire had too.

"...sounded like a..." Robin said, as he turned the sound over in his ears. "...something breaking. Something big."

"Our friends?" Starfire said.

"Maybe...but..." Robin said, as he grimaced over the other possibility.

"I'm going to take a look. Stay here Starfire..."

"No Tim." Starfire said, as she pushed herself onto her feet. A shock of pain crossed her face, but she remained standing with some help from the counter. "I let you leave me behind once. Not this time."

"Starfire..."

"I know I am hurt, Tim. But I've been hurt before. I can work through it. And we can't be separated. Not now." Starfire said. "...that's what it wants."

"...all right." Robin said, as he reached down and covered Sophie, before turning to the debris near her. "But I reserve the right to change my mind."

"...all right." Starfire echoed, sensing there was no time for an argument. "...what are you doing Tim?"

"I don't know what we're going into...and I don't have much in the way of other options." Robin said, as he investigated the knives left spilled over the kitchen floor: Robin tried to ignore the bloodstains on them. "So I...am going...to make sure..."

Robin finally selected a knife that was both firm and relatively sharp.

"I go as prepared as I can."

* * *

She wasn't prepared to die.

Despite all her despair, as Raven looked at the sight of her own blood on her lap, where she'd coughed it up, she realized that she hadn't given up yet.

How could she? She never had before.

When her dark side had overwhelmed her, it had had to pull her kicking and screaming for every inch it gained. Her only error had been not entrusting her friends to help, afraid that she would fail them and they would get hurt.

She had vowed never to make that mistake again.

No matter the situation.

No matter the enemy.

No matter the cost.

And so she looked up, refusing to allow her head to be bowed any more.

...and at last, she realized why Jigsaw had turned the lights up, as she looked at the walls.

And on the heels of that revelation, she realized something else.

It wasn't as bad as it could have been.

It had just gotten worse.

* * *

As Savior pushed himself up, coughing violently from the dust in the room, even as his lungs burned and his vision swam. He'd taken the brunt of the impact when he and Beast Boy had hit the floor, and fresh blood dripped from his lips as he tried to place himself. He was in another dilapidated bedroom...where was Beast Boy...where was his gun...

Movement caught his eye, as he whirled towards it...and looked at himself, his bloody image reflected in the room's dirty mirror. Savior coughed again, trying to see through all the dust, as he turned around, looking...

There was his gun!

Savior crawled over to it, reaching out...

As a shadow fell over him. Savior jerked his head back up...

As Beast Boy shattered the mirror over his head: Savior recoiled back and crashed back down to the floor, blood erupting anew from his face and running into his eyes even as his cheek smacked into the ground.

"How could you man?" Beast Boy half-screamed and half-sobbed. "You were one of us, you were FAMILY..."

But even as he spoke, Beast Boy was picking up one of the broken shards of mirror, as Savior tried to get back up.

"TRAITOR!"

And Beast Boy rammed the mirror shard down into Noel's back. Noel let out as a gasping wheeze as the blade pierced into him and collapsed again, as Beast Boy wrenched the shard out, his own blood mixing with Noel's blood.

"You want to know the difference between you and me?" Beast Boy said. "When this is all done, I won't hate you."

And Beast Boy raised the blade again.

"And I would have used the gun on myself."

And Beast Boy stabbed at Noel's neck.

As Noel flashed up his left hand as the mirror knife lunged at him, the blade impaling right through his palm.

What truly shocked Beast Boy was that Noel didn't make a sound that time.

"Always did talk too much." Savior said.

And he slammed into Beast Boy, as the two went tumbling down onto the ground.

* * *

...there was no orb.

The confirmation of that possibility had finally come to Raven, and in the wake of what had come before, it hit her as hard as the rest.

Because with the lights turned up to dimly illuminate the room, and the monitors no longer narrowing her vision with their glare, Raven could see the walls of the room. Or more specifically, what was on them.

Symbols. Incredibly elaborate, arcane symbols.

Symbols that, if painted one way, could seal evil from, or into an area. If painted slightly differently, they could cast out pain or fear.

Or if painted the way they were, could "ensure the grounded spirit". In other words, take the powers of a person, whether they were organic or mystically based, and completely seal them off.

All you needed was enough raw energy, the blood of the person or persons you wanted to affect, and to draw the symbols properly.

THIS was what had sealed her, and her teammate's powers. She could even count each etching and have a rough idea who it was "specialized" for, though all the symbols worked together to allow the power binding, as they stretched around the room and behind her.

There was no Orb of Archetypal.

This break from tradition was immensely rattling, as it opened up all sorts of ugly concepts and possibilities...but Raven didn't have time to consider them.

Because as much as the realization shocked her, it also gave her the faintest of chances. Because she couldn't do anything about the magics of something like the Orb.

But with this...she...JUST...might...

It would be like trying to stop water from flowing from a tap by sticking her finger over it...but that still stopped a minuscule amount of water.

All Raven needed was to reach out and try and jam her personal symbol's influence. She knew which one it was: it was right in front of her. Even with her powers sealed, her knowledge of the eldrich arts would let her bring SOMETHING to bear, and without accessing her demonic side as well. If she could block out her personal symbol's effect, she could fight against the rest of the power the remaining symbols brought to bear, and perhaps access the tiniest fraction of her abilities. The strain would be agony...but she was already in agony.

And all she had to do was break, or even fray, her arm restraints. If she could get her arms free, she would be able to undo her waist and leg restraints: her efforts against them earlier had demonstrated that they relied on her lack of leverage and inability to grab her waist restraint to keep her from getting free, instead of an actual lock. If she got her arms free, she _could_ grab her waist chain, and once that was removed, all she had to do was lean over and yank out her leg shackles the same way.

And then all she had to do was destroy the symbols. It would be easy: she'd just have to claw the walls they were on. Something so potent was also very delicate. She could even do it with her bare hand. All she had to do was break one's perfect etching design, and a little of her powers would be back. Then she'd break them all.

Then she'd have her _ALL_ powers back.

And then...she'd REALLY raise some hell.

And so Raven reached out, trying to calm her mind, to quell the violence in her soul...

And then the pain slammed into her as the feedback of her attempt started, shooting waves of torment through her form. Raven clenched her teeth and endured it, her friends had all endured pain, she could as well, she would be free...

A dark line began to appear on the chains at her wrists. It was working...she just had to...go...A BIT MORE...

* * *

Beast Boy's head impacted on the ground, stars exploding in his vision, as he flailed his arms and felt one of his wild blows bounce off what seemed like a jaw. Barely aware of specifics, Beast Boy resorted to pure animal fury as he rolled over and attacked Noel's form, scratching, clawing, and biting as the two rolled around the room...

As Savior caught him full in the chest with a knee, briefly separating them as Savior rolled over and tried to pull the glass out of his left hand...

As Beast Boy stomped on the hand, shattering the glass dagger and grinding the pieces into Noel's fingers and palm.

Savior...didn't even flinch.

"...oh no." Beast Boy said.

Savior's right hand slammed into Beast Boy's testicles, and as Beast Boy doubled over Savior pounced on him again.

* * *

Jigsaw had compensated for everything: the chains that bound Raven were clearly of a hardened, reinforced steel. She'd have surely cut through normal chains by now: with these she had just scoured the surface...and it hurt...it hurt so much...

But Raven would make sure Jigsaw hadn't compensated for everything, as she continued forcing her will onto the lines of power, trying to cut herself free...

* * *

Glass from the shattered mirror tore into Beast Boy's back as he furiously fought Noel, but he barely noticed the pain through his struggle, as he clawed at Savior's eyes, and then, when Noel recoiled from the blow, punched him in the throat, getting him off Beast Boy as he gagged for air. Beast Boy crawled away...

And saw the gun. He lunged for it...

As Savior lunged in turn, seizing into Beast Boy's legs and knocking him flat on the ground, as he tried to crawl over him...

Beast Boy rammed his head back into Savior's face, knocking him off once more, and once more went for the gun, his fingers closing on it...

Savior lashed out with his palm, knocking it free in a slashing blow/scoop motion before Beast Boy could get a firm grip, as Savior tried to push himself up and back to grab at Beast Boy's head...and left his face wide open as Beast Boy whirled around and sank his fingers into his eyes, Savior recoiling with a scream, Beast Boy going with him...

As Savior stopped resisting and went limp, causing Beast Boy to overshoot his attack and slide over Savior, thudding back down on the ground. He rolled over...

Savior pounced down on him, another shard of mirror in his hand...

As Beast Boy thrust up his arms, grabbing Savior's wrist and stopping the attack in its tracks.

Savior thrust down his knees in turn, using Beast Boy's distraction to pin his thighs to the ground, leaving the green teenager trapped beneath him.

And Beast Boy's eyes went wide as pain began exploding through his arms.

A fact Savior had clearly counted on, as he began to bore down on his teammate.

* * *

Blood began flowing from Raven's nose: her only surprise was that it had taken this long. Her efforts were a double edged sword: they had caused her heartbeat to speed up rapidly, spreading the poison within her ever faster, and it had already done so much damage...

Raven coughed, hacking more blood into her lap, blood shot through with a strange black stain. She didn't know what that meant and didn't want to, as she sucked it back down and resumed her full efforts.

God it hurt...

But the chains were being cut through...

But it hurt...

It hurt...

It _**HURT...

* * *

**_It hurt...it hurt so bad...

But Beast Boy furiously kept his arms up, somehow willing them to work and protect himself, as he bucked and thrashed beneath Savior. But his efforts were for naught: Savior had him firm.

As Beast Boy's anger began to spike through with fear. The agony in his arms was beginning to seem less important then something else: weakness. Beast Boy had already driven his injured form above and beyond the call of duty...and the overclocking was about to break down the machine.

"...Noel...!" Beast Boy rasped, as he furiously tried to stay ahead of his own body's limits.

"Not me." Savior replied, as Beast Boy's eyes briefly clouded with confusion. "Her."

"...what...no...!" Beast Boy gasped out, as the mirror blade began to slide down towards Beast Boy's chest, Beast Boy unable to keep up the strength needed to hold it at bay. "NOT THIS WAY...!"

"...have to." Savior said. "Rules...changed...no going back. For any of us...not this time."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. Did that mean...

Was there no stopping this?

In ANY way...?

"...Noel..."

"Only way."

"PLEASE...!"

"Rest Gar." Savior said, as he turned his eyes from his once-teammate. "Sleep."

And he rammed down the blade with all the strength he had.

Strangely, Beast Boy hardly felt the edge as it pierced through his chest and heart.

It was a greater despair that carried him off, as his vision was consumed by the dark.

It wasn't the same.

There was no undoing anything this time.

And faced with that...Noel had made his true choice.

The agony of that followed Gar Logan all the way to oblivion.

* * *

Savior closed Beast Boy's eyes. Regret did not stain his soul this time. He had no regret left. It was as dead as the nerves that had let him shrug off Beast Boy's blows, as Savior looked at his maimed left hand. It was clearly near-useless now: he'd barely been able to use it as a brace to finish Beast Boy. And yet...he barely felt the pain that it should have brought him. The same went for his back wound: Beast Boy had avoided hitting any organs, but the agony of it should have been utterly crushing. Yet the only reason he was aware of the wound was because he could feel it bleeding.

Perhaps if he'd been of sound mind, Noel would have wondered how he was still moving under such conditions...but Noel had left sound behind a long time ago.

Because he'd found clarity of purpose, in the wholly wretched nature of what he had chosen to do. It had occurred to him as he'd hunted for Beast Boy, but in his desperate battle with the teenager it had solidified into certainty.

This time was different. There would be no reversals. The dead would stay dead...at least in a sense that couldn't be fixed in the vein of a switch flipping.

It was either the Titans or Raven...

...wasn't it?

...did it really matter? Noel had made his choice.

And so he stood up from his last crime, feeling the blood wash over him...

As he heard the slight scraping behind him, and turned around to look at Robin and Starfire, as they began entering the doorway and stopped.

They had not witnessed what he'd done...but as Robin looked at Noel's blood-caked form, and Beast Boy's crumbled body at his feet, one last flash of terrible pain, of grief and betrayal, ran through his body. And he suspected it was ten times worse for Starfire from the little gasp she made.

"...Noel...what have you done?" Robin whispered.

Savior looked back at him, his eyes betraying no reason. They seemed as dead as their teammate at his feet.

"...that's the thing." Savior said. "I'm _not_ done."

And he lunged down at the ground.

A motion Robin recognized all too well. If he'd been alone, he would have gone for an interception.

But he wasn't. A badly injured Starfire was with him.

And so as Savior went for the gun on the ground, Robin, in one smooth motion slid down and slipped the knife he'd taken into his boot even as he used his lowered posture to slide under Starfire and grab her in his arms, sweeping her off her feet and putting wings on his as he ran as fast he could, as Savior jerked up the firearm and aimed, briefly trying to follow his movement through the wall, and then deciding he didn't have enough bullets to waste as he pushed himself up and ran towards the doorway.

Too late. The hallway was empty. Savior glanced back and forth, and then lowered the gun as he began coughing again.

More blood spilled from his lips, but the deep clawing burn that had accompanied the coughs was gone. Savior wiped his mouth off and then looked back up at the empty hallway.

"Check." Savior whispered, and began to follow.

* * *

"...I never...really thought..." Starfire said as Robin ran through the ground floor hallways.

"I know." Robin said, as he briefly paused, and then took off down another hallway.

"......................what are you doing?"

"Changing my mind." Robin said, as he finally located a door that was already open. Apparently, all the reinforcing work and discouragement door traps had been on the upper floors. As if Jigsaw had known by the time they had reached the ground, the group would have bigger problems. In theory anyway.

Robin burned at the audacity of it. Jigsaw was brilliant, yes, that was the impression he got...but to have this degree of maneuvering...it was inhuman...

But then again, so was the force behind all this. Fresh anger and hate shot through Robin's veins. It had killed his teammates: Noel also had betrayed them, but it had been the catalyst...

He had to fix this. No matter what.

The door led to another filthy, garbage-filled former hotel room...but that was what Robin wanted, as he scanned the room and located a suitable blind spot. Provided he closed the door, Savior wouldn't have any real reason to check it, unless he wanted to play "musical maybe-there traps". It would at least slow him down...long enough for Robin to think of a plan.

"Robin..." Starfire began to protest.

"I know Kory. If this was any other situation, I wouldn't even begin to consider it." Robin said, as he put her behind one of the piles of garbage. "But you're hurt, not yourself. And he has a gun."

"I..."

"Nigel and Rob died of gunshot wounds. That fact, and the way he didn't try and attack us directly, instead going for something else...I'd bet money." Robin said, as he began to rearrange the garbage to more properly conceal Starfire unless you looked at it from the right angle. "I have to do this alone. I can't...protect you."

Normally Starfire would have argued...except the pain in Robin's voice that he couldn't properly guard his lover's life and knew that fact quieted her. It sounded as bad as the pain that had come from the confirmation of what had been on Noel's tape.

"Please...just this once."

"...what if..."

"No. I won't die." Robin said, as he stood up and removed the knife from his boot. "I'll stop him...stop all this..."

And Robin offered the knife to Starfire.

"Here. You can..."

Starfire pushed the knife back into his hand.

"No Robin. You will not cripple yourself to help me. I forbid it." Starfire said with icy calm.

"Are you..."

"Yes. Go." Starfire said. "I...have enough regret. I do not wish to have any more."

"...I'll come back for you." Robin said, as he carefully headed back to the room door, peering outside with the greatest caution.

The hallway was empty. For the second time, Robin closed the door and left Starfire behind.

This time, he felt no pain. Only focus for what lay ahead.

It was him or them, and Robin, like Noel, had no problem with the solution to that.

* * *

Could he kill...Robin...

It was no longer a matter of morality for Noel Collins: it was a matter of brutal practicality. He may have had a gun, but he no longer had the element of surprise. Beast Boy had fought like an madman on the way down, and Noel wasn't expecting anything less from his leader. He was the scion of the bat: a gun might as well be as effective as a feather duster.

...but he had to...to save Raven...only way...

A flicker of motion caught Savior's eye, and he whirled around, barely keeping himself from wasting a bullet on the empty air. But he could have sworn he had seen something...

Savior carefully crept down the hall, pausing briefly as a myriad of colors slashed across his eyes. He wasn't going to last much longer, he suspected...

He peered around the corner. Nothing...

...save a slightly open door.

Fool me once, shame on you...but Noel didn't quite know what to make of what he may or may not have seen, as he slowly approached the crack...

* * *

What tactic would Noel use?

Did he have enough sense left to realize he had no chance in hand to hand combat? Surely if he did he'd try an ambush...but without his powers, and with Robin's immensely on edge senses, ambushing him would be quite a task. And if he hid and waited, for all he knew Robin would grab Starfire and run for the exit door. Considering what Noel had transformed into, Robin doubted he'd take that chance.

Things seemed to favor him, despite Noel's projectile weapon. Did Noel realize that? It would be best for everyone if he hadn't...

Bastard. Murdering bastard. Robin couldn't show him any mercy. He couldn't...

...so what did that say of him?

An avenger, a protector!

...but in a way, that was what Noel thought. The latter, definitely.

From what Robin had grasped from Gar (oh Gar...why hadn't he been faster...why hadn't he been smarter...he'd failed Beast Boy, all his dead teammates...), the _Saw_ series loved last-minute twists. And Robin was not so proud nor so vengeful to think this accursed atmosphere wouldn't try and spring one on him when his attentions were focused elsewhere like this.

Goddamn atmosphere....

Goddamn movie series headed by a...

Red-robed lunatic.

Robin did not know Jigsaw wore a red robe.

But he knew now.

Because when he turned the corner, he'd seen him.

As the robed figure paused, and then turned around, as the nature of the wandering and arranging finally came back on it. Like with Gauntlet, the figure had found itself in the same vicinity of a Titan.

For a moment, the tattered eye mask and the disturbing pig mask of the pair locked eyes.

"..._**YOU."**_ Robin hissed.

As the masked figure immediately whirled around and began running down the hallway. Robin hadn't expected anything else. Not from an old man who hid behind death traps and a cause of false righteousness, as Robin sprinted after him as the rage exploded through him anew. He would catch him. He would catch him. If his feet broke off and he had to run on his stumps, he would catch him!

"_**YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD! I'LL GET YOU! I'LL GET YOU!"

* * *

**_As Starfire snapped her head up from the sudden noise, the voice echoing down the hallways...Robin, it was Robin. Screaming. She knew his anger well...

...too well.

Something was wrong. You didn't place as much value on relationships as Tamaranians did without picking up many minute things about those you spent your lives with. And Starfire was familiar with Robin's anger.

And even without being able to make out his precise words, Starfire could tell from his cadence that something was off. It didn't sound...right. There was an undercurrent of...frustration...

Frustration? If something was hiding, frustrated yelling would be counterproductive: it would tip off where the person was. Besides hiding...

...running...

Robin was chasing someone.

...and yelling angry curses? That didn't fit. Why would...

...unless...

And Starfire suddenly had an epiphany.

And realized that maybe it wasn't all Robin who had wanted her left behind.

* * *

As the robed figure ran on.

"_**DAMN YOU!"**_

And Robin snapped the knife up and hurled it through the air.

It impaled on the wall where the robed figure had been a moment before, as he jerked to the side around the corner and continued to run. Robin didn't slow down a step either, as he sprinted to where he'd impaled the knife in the wall and yanked it free, even as the robed figure in turn sprinted down the hallway he'd zagged into.

"I don't think so." Robin said, as he flipped the knife over in his hand.

The robed figure was reaching the end of the hallway again...

And Robin snapped out his arm, sending the knife spinning through the air once more...

And impaling itself through the long sleeve of the robed figure as he started to turn down the corner again, the throw so strong it pulled the robed figure along with it and slammed him into the wall. A deep grunt sounded from the figure, as it reached down and tried to yank the knife free.

But it was stuck fast. The form hissed with effort and kept yanking at the pinning weapon, as Robin approached.

"Got you Jigsaw." Robin said, as the figure looked up at the approaching teenager as he curled his fingers into a tight fist. "You have a lot to answer for...and you're going to answer...for every...last...drop..."

As the door swung open and Savior smashed into Robin from the side, catching the teenager completely off guard as the two crashed through another door and into the room beyond.

As John looked at the sudden change...something he wasn't much surprised about when the abruptness of it wore off, as he reached up and pulled off his pig mask: it had shifted in his retreat and lessened his vision. With his eyes unblocked, John shifted a bit in turn and then yanked the knife free, dropping it with a clatter as he slipped the mask back on and quickly made his exit.

That had been a little too close. Perhaps he'd rolled the dice a few too many times.

But in the end, Robin had forgotten the rules of the game.

* * *

The game...

The very one that had lured Noel through the open door. He had found nothing...

And he had neither heard nor seen John Kramer as he'd fled past the door. But he had heard Robin.

Perhaps it was his addled mind that failed to process the exact nature of Robin's words and actions as he'd approached. Perhaps not. All Savior knew for certain was that he had been granted an opening.

And when Robin had passed by, he'd taken it.

As the two crashed into the door opposite the one Noel had ambushed Robin through.

And the wire across the door snapped off.

The weighted ball fell, swinging across the door entrance in a swift pendulum arc even as Savior and Robin broke apart from Savior's attempted grapple, as Robin prepared to curse Savior out before he did what was needed...had he not heard the sound of the snapping wire.

Had someone entered the door unknowingly, the arc the weighted metal ball at the end of the rod would have caused said ball to swing into the side of the person's head, delivering fatal neck and skull damage and quite possibly knocking the victim's head right off.

But Robin and Savior had not entered the door normally for unknowing types.

And so the ball missed.

Savior, as it clipped the back of Robin's skull, sending him flying forward as stars exploded in his vision...

As Savior lashed out with the gun and bashed Robin across the head in turn, sending more colors and the claw of oblivion slashing through Robin's mind, as he staggered back, furiously trying to rein in his senses...

And where sense failed, Robin had carefully honed instinct, as he did not fall from the blow but charged, catching Savior by surprise as he rammed into him and smashed him into a rotten armoire, Robin grabbing Noel's gun hand and pinned to his side even as he hammered his other fist repeatedly into Noel's kidney, refusing to let go. If Noel got any distance, Robin was dead: up close, he couldn't use the firearm to his advantage, as Robin slammed blow after blow into Savior's side, his scrambled head overcome by the strength of desperation and defiance.

But darker powers served his enemy: a normal man would have been crippled by the pain of the blows, but Savior barely seemed to notice them as he pushed off the wall, pieces of soft wood falling off the two's forms as they struggled in the midst of the filthy room...

As Savior wrenched his right hand free and bashed the gun over the top of Robin's head. New, ever more interesting colors sliced through Robin's vision, but he refused to let go, as Savior rammed the gun repeatedly down on Robin's neck and shoulders, furiously trying to drive him down or off.

"SCREW YOU!" Robin screamed, as he adjusted his position and rammed a fist directly into Savior's upper left thigh, aiming for a pressure point located within the femoral nerves to try and knock Savior down...

He hit it.

And it did virtually nothing.

It was right around then that Robin came to a similar theory that Beast Boy had: that the prolonged exposure to the nerve poison Noel had suffered had had unexpected beneficial effects.

As Savior reared around and thrust forward, and the two Titans crashed through another rotten wall, dust and splinters spraying into Robin's eyes as he tried not to recoil...

As Savior slammed his left palm into Robin's forehead, even as the two stumbled out into the new hallway the two had entered...

Robin tried to maintain his grip...

As his ankle twisted. The pain was almost non-sequential to the sudden change of balance.

As Savior pushed him away and smashed the gun across Robin's forehead, and Robin flew backwards, his defiance finally broken, as he crashed down on the floor, the wind knocked from him. Wheezing and coughing, Robin tried to get up...

As Savior aimed the gun at him.

"...Star..." Robin whispered.

"Checkmate." Savior replied.

As Starfire smashed the tape recorder into pieces as she bashed it against the back of Noel's head. Savior's dead eyes briefly showed confusion, before he flew forward onto his face with a thud.

As Starfire collapsed in turn, her legs screaming at her for her use of them.

"Robin...!" She said, as she crawled towards the human Titan.

"...Star..." Robin said...as a sudden terrible fit of coughing seized him, though it was from dust in the lungs rather then any recurring poison. Starfire hastened her crawl, as she reached Robin, trying to stand up with him despite the near-impossibility of it.

"I know what you said...but I couldn't stay away...I just knew..."

"STAR, THE GUN!" Robin managed to gasp out. Starfire's eyes widened, as she turned around...

As Savior re-solidified his grip on the firearm and began pushing himself up.

Starfire's personality belied the depths within her: she was kind, but she was also a warrior. And what she didn't know, Robin had tried to teach her. And she had learned much.

But instincts cannot be easily re-arranged. And in fighting past the terrible pain of her injured legs, Starfire, like Robin, had relied on her warrior's instinct. It had let her move at decent speed, speed enough to find Robin and Savior locked in battle and to save Robin from death.

It had also locked out certain habits Robin had tried to drill into Starfire.

And so, when she'd knocked Savior down, she had gone to Robin, a Tamaranian instinct. Protect your friends, your companions, your love.

But that had caused her to forget something she dearly should have done.

She should have disarmed Noel while he was down.

Because despite her great blow, Noel had only been downed. He was not out.

And he was getting back up.

Starfire watched, just for a moment...and made her choice.

"Save us Robin." She whispered.

And she leapt up and lunged at Savior as he tried to aim the gun at the pair.

"STAR NO!" Robin screamed, as he reached out, as he tried to stop her, will this not to happen, not after all that already had...

And tried to tell Starfire that while she was still wearing Noel's armored jacket, SHE HADN'T CLOSED IT AT THE FRONT.

As Starfire seized the gun and pushed herself up against it, as Savior recoiled back a bit, his eyes wide with surprise.

"...I forgive you." She whispered.

And the gun went off. Savior felt the impact of the bullet run back into his arm even as Starfire felt the far more terrible impact, as she jerked from the shot smashing through her.

For a moment, there was silence, as Robin stared helplessly, Savior stared incomprehensively, and Starfire looked sadly on the man she would have died for.

Even like this.

And she reached up, seized Savior's gun hand, and pressed down on it, forcing the trigger down and sending another bullet slamming into her body, and even as the new pain and violation swept through her she did it again, blood spraying anew on Noel. Robin and Savior both looked at the action in shock, before both realized what she was doing.

SHE WAS TRYING TO USE UP ALL THE BULLETS.

"KORY!" Robin screamed, as he leapt up...as the choice came before him.

Risk throwing away Starfire's sacrifices...or turn his back on her for the sake of the greater good and a faint last hope.

In the end, Robin understood why Noel had fallen. It was amazing what love could do for you. Do to you.

And the pain from defying it.

But in the end, Robin did not fall, as he turned and ran, even as Starfire smiled and slammed at Savior's hand again, as another bullet smashed through her form, even as numbness began to replace all the pain as Savior struggled to pull away, as Starfire held on...

But her strength was leaving her, and in the end Savior wrenched the gun from her and aimed at Robin's fleeing form.

The bullet crashed into the wall as Robin avoided it at the last second, ducking around the corner and fleeing back into the hotel.

As Savior stared after him...and then back down at Starfire.

It was her eyes that was the worst. Not her blood all over him, or the fact he had gone from giving her his protection to taking her life. No. It was her eyes, lacking anger, or hate, or even pity. Just a terrible sadness.

A nobility that deemed him not worth anything else.

"..._abyssus...abyssum...invocat..._" Starfire whispered, as Savior's own eyes went wide.

Latin. How fitting. A personal favorite of Noel's. It was the only reason she knew some of it.

And a dead language, as Starfire's eyes went dull, and she slumped at Noel's feet.

Noel looked down at her...and then lowered his gun, his right arm absolutely soaked in Starfire's blood, thinking over what she'd said. Roughly translated, it meant "deep calleth unto deep". Or "hell invokes hell". In modern terms, the dangers of the slippery slope.

She could have said that...but she'd spoken in one last hope to reach...something.

...and perhaps she had...

As for one last time, Savior lifted the gun...and put the barrel to his own forehead.

And there he stood...

...before lowering it.

It was all for Raven. She'd make it all right. Somehow.

Savior looked at his bloodsoaked right arm. A red right hand. Despite himself, Savior let out a dark snorting chuckle. The phrase came from _Paradise Lost_, and many people misinterpreted it as referring to the devil.

But it actually referred to God's own vengeance.

Was this what this was?

No...Savior doubted that. No god likely had any sway here.

Just evil, pure killing evil.

And the sacrifices needed to stop it.

Savior leaned down, as he briefly put the gun down...and seized his jacket, pulling it off Starfire's form. Had she not been wearing it, the bullets might have gone _through_ her and done some damage to Robin. With it on, that was an impossibility.

And she had no more use for it, as Savior pulled the bloody clothing from Starfire's body, watching the corpse settle at his feet as he slipped the coat back on before he retrieved his weapon.

He had no doubt Starfire was in a better place. They all were.

And none of them could help him. He was on his own.

He'd accepted that.

"_Flectere si nequeo superos, Achaeronta movebo_." Savior replied softly to Starfire, and then stepped over her as he moved on.

'If I cannot move heaven, I will raise hell.'

* * *

As John entered the abandoned security room, removing his mask once more as he did so. He briefly glanced at Cyborg's roasted remains, and then strode over to the computer banks.

As he reached behind them and flicked a switch.

And immediately, all the non-functioning televisions that had only shown snow switched on, as the hidden cameras they were connected to activated. Had Cyborg had more time, and less distractions, he might have discovered this himself.

And with that done, John turned and once again watched, as the final moves of the game began to play out.

Most of the pieces had fallen. All that was left was a knight.

And a pawn.

* * *

"...come on Robin, let's end this." Savior called. There was no reply, and Noel wasn't expecting one.

"Everyone else is gone...just you and me...and I doubt we're going to reconcile." Savior said, as he staggered through the hallways: he might not have felt the injuries Robin had inflicted on him, but his body did, in its own way. Savior pushed on, ignoring it. "You have to understand...this isn't the same! I know! No one's coming back...if Raven dies...everything's lost...for that...well...it was nothing personal Tim..."

No answer, as Savior turned and began down another hallway, awaiting the ambush he was certain was coming. He had to be careful. He only had two bullets left. They had to count.

"Of course, you wouldn't listen to me...not expecting it...why would you?" Savior said. "I'm a traitor, a monster...what else could I be...I spit on my code name, on the vows we all swore...my name will become a curse word...yeah, that's likely. I probably have a lifetime of eternal regret ahead of me, if that...yet, it doesn't change my mind. I don't know what that says about me...and you're probably not in a state to really...analyze properly..."

Savior stopped.

Robin had just walked in front of him, his form framed in the doorway he'd crossed into sight from.

And Savior could tell, even from the distance he was at, even at the fact Savior had killed his girlfriend but minutes before, that there wasn't a trace of irrationality in the anger that burned and seethed in Robin's eyes. The fact it was clear even through Robin's blanking mask said it all.

"Just _**SHUT UP.**_" Robin snarled.

Savior jerked up his gun, as Robin's form disappeared from the doorway. Savior narrowed his eyes: he wasn't so turbid as to not see this as a trap, but considering certain things Savior was at a bit of a loss just what kind of trap it was.

So he crept forward, gun at the ready, carefully uncovering both blind spots on either side of the door before he went through.

He found himself in what had surely once been the hotel's entrance lobby: the large double doors at the end confirmed it. Beyond them lay the balcony with the two staircases Noel had seen on the monitors earlier, which led to the actual "to go outside the hotel" exit. Good to know, once he found Raven and fixed all this, one way or another...

Robin was nowhere to be seen. And there weren't many hiding places in the lobby room save the once-proud check-in desk, now long gone to seed. Savior carefully crept over to it, ready for any forward or ambush attack. His experience with Beast Boy had taught him well: never assume. Especially not with Robin.

But he wasn't hiding in the remains of the check-in desk. Savior glanced around. There were three exits from the check in lobby, but fallen debris had blocked off two. The only ways in and out were the hallway Savior had come down, and the large double doors that lead out to the balcony that overlooked the hotel exit. Savior carefully turned around, checking the walls. No holes or erstwhile entrances Robin could have used to slip around behind him.

That left just one option, as Savior approached the double doors.

Fortunately for him, they swung into the room, so Robin had no door to hide behind on the balcony beyond. Savior checked behind each door just to be sure Robin wasn't pressing himself flat against one or using some trick of shadows to stay out of general vision. The area behind the doors was empty.

Savior checked behind himself once more to make sure Robin wasn't sneaking up on him, and then carefully approached the double doors again, slowly peering back and forth on each side of the balcony beyond, trying to spot Robin if he was planning to jump him from either side.

Savior paused just before crossing the actual threshold of the double doors, as he again glanced behind him. Nothing. And nothing on either side of the doors.

As Savior leapt through and whirled upward, aiming the gun.

Nothing. No Robin hanging above the door ready to leap down on him. No Robin hiding on either side of the double doors in some incredible ninja trick. Savior jerked his eyes down and around, wary of being faked out again.

Nothing. There was no sign of Robin on the balcony, above or around Noel. Nor had he popped out of nowhere in the lobby Noel had just left. The place was deserted.

Feeling deep unease, Noel turned back around, scanning each staircase on either side of him as they curled down to the "exit floor". Savior could see the doors from his current position on the balcony, placed against the opposite wall. He could also see the camera he'd viewed the room from earlier.

So where was Robin...

Savior slowly stepped up to the balcony, as he carefully began to peer down at the floor below.

Wait, what was that above the do-

Robin's feet swung up as the steel-plated toes of the boots smashed into Noel's face, throwing Noel backwards as he felt something snap in his cheek, the white-haired quisling barely managing to keep his feet as Robin swung back up from the initial ricochet of kicking Savior. Savior had been wrong: Robin HAD been on the balcony. Specifically he'd been hanging off the end of it in a military press, just waiting for the right moment. And he'd found it, as he completed his swing and flipped, landing on the balcony railing as he looked at Savior with furious eyes.

Savior jerked up his gun.

And Robin leapt over Noel, as Noel tried to follow the motion...

Too slow, as Robin lashed out with his foot and caught Noel square in the side, as Savior flew forward.

The old balcony had already been severely weakened by Robin landing on it.

Savior's follow up impact broke it entirely, as Savior smashed through the dilapidated wood and out onto the open air in a shower of wood fragments.

Robin landed on the balcony. A moment later Savior crashed down on the floor below with a sickening crunch.

Robin peered over the edge in turn, looking at Noel's crumpled form. And despite his overwhelming rage, he once again didn't let it rule him, as he picked up a piece of broken wood and threw it down on Noel.

Noel didn't flinch at all from the impact of it. Robin narrowed his eyes, gathering up a few more wood pieces before he started down the left stairs, periodically tossing them at Noel's unmoving form. The impacting pieces prompted no further motion as well.

Robin reached the ground floor, and slowly approached Noel's body. He tossed his final piece of wood at him from several feet away.

Noel didn't move.

Robin snorted loudly, as he drew in close to Noel's body...

And Noel snapped up with his gun.

Right into Robin's waiting hand, as he lashed out with a foot and kicked Noel in the face again.

"I was the one who taught you how to play dead asshole!" Robin snapped, as he yanked the gun free. Savior tried to spring up and seize it back...

As Robin slammed out with his foot again, driving it straight into Noel's chest and sending him flying backwards onto his rear, blood exploding from Noel's mouth as he landed, as Robin lifted up the gun...

And ripped out the clip, ejecting the last two bullets before throwing the clip aside, as he reached up and tore off the slide, throwing the remains of the gun aside as well as he pulled out the firing pin, spring, and barrel from the slide in one swift series of remove-and-toss motions before pulling out the crucial inner part of the barrel and throwing it at his feet, where he stomped on it.

"Not gonna be that easy." Robin hissed, as Noel slowly pushed himself up.

"You think...this was easy?" Savior replied.

Robin's only reply was a wordless scream as he charged at Savior, swinging out a fist, as Savior raised his hands to intercept...

As Robin turned the punch into a roll, as he slipped around Savior with lightning speed and pushed off his hands, ramming a foot into Noel's spine and sending him stumbling forward, as Robin in turn sprang back up to his feet and charged.

* * *

John watched as the tables abruptly turned: without his gun or powers, Noel was clearly below Robin, no pain due to dead nerves or not.

Then again, Noel's desire to save Raven had, by now, increased to fanatic levels.

On the other hand, so had Robin's to avenge his teammates.

It wasn't often that John felt the odds were split to the point where he couldn't assess, with some certainty, how the final result would turn out.

And so he watched, and waited for the end.

* * *

Robin had no such thoughts. There was one way this would end, whether Noel somehow regained his powers, literally pulled another weapon out of his ass, or abruptly became the vessel for a returning Great Old One. No matter what.

No matter _**what.**_

As Robin ducked under Savior's attempted punch and drove a fist into his gut. Savior tried another punch: Robin deflected it and smashed Noel across the face with a backhand before he snapped up his leg and kicked Noel backwards. Noel crashed into the railing of the right stairs, as Robin slashed out a leg at him: Savior ducked and Robin kicked out several of the railings, as Savior tried to punch Robin from the side...

Robin grabbed Savior's wrist, twisted his arm down and rammed an elbow into his face, sending Noel stumbling back as fresh blood exploded from his nose.

"_**BASTARD!"**_ Robin yelled, as he smashed his fist across Noel's face. _**"TRAITOR! MURDERER! GODDAMN YOU!"**_

"If God..." Savior began, before Robin punched him in the jaw and cut him off. Savior collapsed from the blow, as Robin loomed over him.

"_**JUST DIE!"**_ Robin screamed, as he savagely kicked Noel across the face, sending blood and broken teeth spraying into the air. _**"GO TO HELL! TO HELL!**_"

"...already...there..." Noel wheezed, as he tried to get up...

Robin kicked Savior in the ribs as hard as he could, feeling bones snap under the blow, even as he drove another elbow into Noel's spine as he flew up from the upward momentum, sending him crashing back down onto the floor. Robin reached down, seizing Noel's hair and pulling him up as Robin smashed Savior's face through more of the right staircase's railings before yanking and throwing him backwards, as he spun and lashed his heel across Noel's face, sending him crashing in turn through the railings of the left staircase.

"_**YOU WERE ONE OF US!"**_ Robin screamed. "WE HELD BACK THE FORCES OF HELL TOGETHER! WE STOPPED THE END OF THE UNIVERSE TOGETHER! WE BEAT UP GODS_** AND MADE THEM CRY! HOW COULD YOU THROW ALL THAT AWAY! HOW? HOW!?!?!?"**_

"Because Raven..." Savior gasped. "Could have turned it all back for you, had to save her...no, no...not the same, couldn't save you all, had to save Raven...no that can't...but if that...and we..."

And for a moment, the blankness in Noel's eyes lifted, replaced by an agony that exceeded any wound Robin had inflicted on him.

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANY MORE." Savior lamented.

And then Robin was across the room, as his fist slammed into Noel's face again, sending him falling to the ground helplessly.

"It doesn't matter." Robin said, with an ice in his voice that could have frozen stars. "You're irrelevant."

And Robin reached down, seized the T's on either side of Noel's shoulders, and ripped them off in one quick motion.

"Get up." Robin hissed. Savior tried to push himself back up...

Robin's fist smashed into his face again, as Robin pummeled Noel with repeated blows to the face and chest, knocking him about for what seemed like an eternity. Blood sprayed on the floor and on Robin, but he didn't even notice. By now, it was like fighting a meat dummy: Noel wasn't letting himself get beat up, but he was so helpless he might as well be, as Robin hit him for every one of his dead teammates, and the other victims of Jigsaw's mad tests, and for Robin himself, and for Raven, who would never be able to endure this, and for Noel being so weak, so easily manipulated, so SUITABLE for it all...

For forgetting Nietzsche's prime creed for heroes. In trying to stop Jigsaw, Noel had become Jigsaw...

No. At least Jigsaw had something resembling a mind. If Noel's actions proved anything, it meant he didn't.

...right?

For all the murk that may have been there, Robin still couldn't forgive, as he slashed out his foot and drove it into the side of Noel's knee, another dull crunch coming from the limb as Noel's legs gave out from the blow...as Robin spun and smashed his boot into Savior's face, sending him flying backwards onto his back again. For a brief moment, he stared with swollen eyes at the balcony above him.

And then his vision filled with Robin's fist, as Robin slammed down on Noel's chest with his knees even as he drove his fist into Noel's face again, and again, and again, more blood spraying on the floor and Robin, as he hit Noel again, and again, and again, screaming all the while.

Until he finally, finally, ran out of energy and adrenaline, and ceased the strikes, as he lifted up his right hand. His right hand, also coated in blood. The true red right hand.

"...why?" Robin whispered. "How could you be so...so...unlike you?"

"...you know." Savior whispered. "...she's my soul...what good does the world do me...without that?"

Robin stared for a moment, and then his eyes once again filled with murderous hate, as he clenched his right fist so hard all the joints popped.

"Goodbye Noel."

And he swung it down.

Right into the wood by the side of Savior's head.

Savior stared, his eyes nebulous, as Robin drilled his own into them.

"You think you're worth that?" Robin said. "No. I will not be weak like you, Noel. Jigsaw isn't part of this reality: in defeating him, he vanishes. But you don't. And you don't get off that easy. Death's easy, Noel. Life is hard. And I am going to make sure that every. Single. DAY. Of your life is as hard as it can be. You like Latin? Here's one you should know. _VAE VICTUS._"

And Robin pulled his fist out of the floor as he stood up slowly, still looking down at Noel's broken form.

As his anger faded, revulsion and disgust in its wake. There was a reason he'd gone back from his vow and curses of moments earlier. When he'd fought Noel, when he'd crushed him, he'd fully planned to pay eye for an eye.

Until he'd had him pinned and under assault, his anger hitting a kind of zen state...as he realized that there was more to it then his own desire for revenge.

That something was in his ear, whispering so soft that no words could be made out, driving him along, telling him he was perfectly just in his deeds...

...and how he felt in them. After all, he'd killed Starfire, and all the other Titans. What he felt...it was right...

And Robin had realized what it was. The same force that manifested as cruel murderers. Who blunted and blanked the Titans' natural advantages, pushing them to act not as they wanted but as it willed. The same force that had sat on Noel's shoulder, encouraging every choice he made, ensuring he never went back...

And now that Noel was used up, it thought Robin would be just fine for the wrap-up.

And in THAT realization...Robin had fought back. In the end, he'd chosen life.

He would not be like Noel. He would not be weak.

And with that insight laying bare the outside forces that had been working on them from the beginning, and how easily they'd swelled Robin's own bloodthirst and sadism...

...he had to get out of here. He had to get _away_ from it. Out of its influence. Get back to the real world, contact help...maybe they could even save Raven...

"Robin..." Savior whispered, but Robin refused to listen, as he turned and started for the entrance. No more. He had to get out of this madness. He had to escape the trap. He wouldn't give into blind panic and fear, as he walked to the entrance door.

The game was done

And he wouldn't let...

Wait a moment...

But even as Robin had the thought, he had the door handle in his hand, as he pushed the door open...

And the wire on the other side snapped off.

The thought finished even as the realization slammed into Robin: who said the atmosphere had just stopped manipulating...

As his words came back to him.

_...the Saw series loved last-minute twists. And Robin was not so proud nor so vengeful to think this accursed atmosphere wouldn't try and spring one on him when his attentions were focused elsewhere..._

Except in the end, he had been.

As the apparatus opened up above him and the three shotguns slid from them, falling into place around Robin and aiming to cover every single part of the doorway. Noel HAD seen something odd near the top of the door, something Robin hadn't been able to spot in his haste. In a final selfish desperation, Noel had tried to warn him.

Too late.

Too late for anything, as Robin stared in horror at the black void of the barrels.

For a brief moment, he swore he heard someone laughing at him.

And then there was nothing but the noise, and the blood, and the pain.

* * *

And John watched the shotguns fire and spray Robin with a massive amount of glass and nails, throwing him backwards through the door as his body was reduced to something resembling raspberry jam.

Never think the game was over when there were still moves to make.

* * *

And as Savior somehow pulled his broken body back up, and staggered over to approach Robin's own destroyed form, he felt a despair that exceeded any pain, physical or emotional, then he had already felt, as he dragged his shattered, ravaged body through the door. If he had still felt pain, he wouldn't have been able to take a step, and even now he barely could.

Robin's mercy had been crueler then he realized. For in falling into Jigsaw's final trap, he had stolen Noel's success from him at the last minute.

The tape had warned that Noel had to kill all the Titans HIMSELF.

And Robin hadn't been part of that.

Raven was lost...so close...so much sacrifice...and yet in the end, all lost...Noel was left alone, a greater failure then anything the Titans had levied at him.

All alone, as he stepped up to Robin's fallen body.

All gone...

All...

...God.

.....................Robin was _STILL ALIVE._

Without any armor, the makeshift ammo within should have ripped Robin apart. And it had, as he lay in a giant pool of his own blood as the sand beyond the hotel entrance greedily sucked it up. Noel could see the mass of shredded meat that had once been Robin's arms and chest cavity, the glass impaled through his cheeks, a nail sunk an inch deep into the right side of his forehead.

But he was still twitching, and blood was bubbling from where his lungs had once been. Somehow, he hadn't died instantly.

Much like Sophie, Noel's first kill. He'd been so confused then, his senses bashing against the damage the poison within was doing to him. He'd had the idea of putting her out of her misery...and before he'd known it he was stabbing her. It had torn him apart...

Then.

He had nothing left now.

Whether Robin was aware of his presence, Noel had no idea, as he fell to his knees beside his fallen leader.

"Oh Tim...I never wanted this...never...I just...I just..."

Savior lowered his head, as the last of his tears streaked down the blood of his face.

"No going back."

Robin had taken apart his gun, rendering this from being easy. But as Savior put his hands on Robin's head, he realized that any way this had gone down would have been simple. It was the only way he had left.

"You were right Tim." Savior said softly. "Mercy _is_ crueler."

And Savior jerked Robin's head as hard as he could, breaking his neck. Robin spasmed one more time, and then went still.

"...all done." Savior said to himself, as he remained by Robin's corpse.

And as blood newly stained his legs and hands, as Savior stared dully at his final kill, he sucked air through his teeth.

And then started singing, in a soft dead monotone.

"When there's trouble, you know who to call..."

He needed something to cover it.

The wicked cackle of approval that refused to go away in his ear.

* * *

And with that, John turned towards the computer banks and pressed a few buttons, as the TV's and lights shut off, as John donned his pig mask again and left the room, closing the door behind him as he left the security room and the pain and regrets within behind.

Now came the time for the final play.

* * *


	12. Don't Forget The Rules

Chapter 12: Don't Forget The Rules

"_The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms -- hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal." _

-James Thurber

"It'll be all right." Savior said to himself as he dragged himself up the stairs. "Maybe I was wrong! Maybe I was being tricked! And once I save Raven, we can stop John...take all this back...I'll accept my punishment...kick me out, put me in jail...I...would probably do it all over again if I had to..."

One of the stairs gave out, sending Noel's leg crunching through it. Savior barely seemed to notice, as he pulled the scraped-up limb free and kept going up. He couldn't delay any more. After putting Robin out of his misery, he'd gotten up, looking at the dark night sky above him, still covered with clouds, and the empty beach that lead to a road in the distance. He was outside, free, and for a moment Noel had considered going onward, getting help. He'd even started walking away from the hotel for a brief moment of time...before he collapsed again, blood and worse spilling from his mouth as he coughed. The cough made him change his mind: he couldn't risk it. Hell, he'd probably already wasted too much time with the short distance he'd gone. He had to go back, find Raven. And so, he'd turned around and gone back.

The trip to the stairs had taken four times as long as it normally would have, with his injuries and his senses randomly dulling, leaving his mind awash in gray fog before he struggled through it. Another weight that Noel bore, as he crawled up the stairs.

"And if...there's no taking it back...don't you see...don't you see..." Savior rasped. "Our world...death is not absolute. Raven is our magician...our link to unnatural forces...this is ALL unnatural, it's controlling everything...HAD to save her, she would be the only one who could find a way to reverse it...she would find a way, there must be a way...I'll give up anything to do it...my life...my soul...anything...it was the only way...the ONLY way to save you all..no other routes...but to her...she HAD to live...and to make sure...if you only could have understood...if only...if only..."

The top of the stairs loomed. Savior made the last few steps on his hands and knees, pulling himself back up via a piece of the broken balcony and stumbling over to the wall, where he leaned on it as he pushed himself along.

"...you'll see...I'll bring you all back...somehow...Superman came back...wait he wasn't technically dead...Jordon came back...wait he technically wasn't truly dead either...Queen. He was dead. Gone. Resting in his great reward...he was brought back...he resumed the cause...it can be done, it WILL..."

And Savior stepped through the double doors at the top of the balcony.

And saw the yellow dots on the floor.

And at the sight of them, Savior found one last jolt of energy, as he staggered down their length, following them back into the hallway he'd walked down a moment before, not paying any attention to anything else save them.

"...it's not as simple...as murder...I couldn't save...mom...no matter how many lives I took...hate me if you will...maybe I am a monster...a traitor...but understand it wasn't just that...the road to hell...may be paved...with good intentions..." Savior whispered, as he followed the yellow dots around the corner of a hallway. "...oh God...Raven...how do I tell her? What if she won't listen to me? Her wrath...I'll take it but...she needs to understand...why I did it...can she...she has to play her own role, this was all for her...she needs to fix it..."

And a thought occurred to Noel: what if she already knew?

...would that be any better? Would her anger over Noel's choice be any less terrible?

...Noel didn't know.

But he'd come this far. As long as she understood what she had to do, it would be worth it.

He might have paved yet another road to hell, but no one ever said all roads led one way...

And the yellow dots stopped. Savior stared at the door they led to. It looked like any other door they had passed by before...which made perfect sense, as Savior grasped the handle.

Had any Titan tried to open the door before now, they would have found it locked. And unlike some earlier assessments, it seemed like there had been one last door and wall reinforcement done: for the door and walls around this room. There would have been no forcing it.

But force was not needed, as Savior opened the door.

And found what had once been a manager's office...and was now just like the many other ruined rooms of the Whannel Hotel, covered in filth and debris that had once been furniture.

Savior's heart plunged: no Raven. It was...

...just part of what lay in the room. Another door was at its end.

Savior pushed through the debris to the second door, noting it looked considerably heavier, like the door that had led to Cyborg's security room. A panic room, most likely. For a moment, fresh fear bloomed in Savior's heart that he'd have to find a key...

But it was baseless, as he seized the long knob-handle and pressed down, and heard the tumblers inside the door snap open. There was no lock.

"...Raven...!" Savior called as he pulled the door open. "I'm here...!"

There was no answer, as Savior slipped around the door.

"Raven?"

No answer.

As Raven sat in the chair in the panic room, her head bowed.

"Raven!" Savior said, as he stumbled in, falling at her feet. "I made it...I...it's all done now...where are the antidotes, do you know, I'm...in a bad way..."

Savior looked around the room, looking for a table, a box, anything...what were all these drawings on the wall, they looked oddly familiar...

"...Raven...do you know...are you...?" Savior said, as he looked back at Raven...

And realized her head was still down. She had yet to look at him.

"...Raven?"

Raven said nothing.

Raven did nothing.

And as Noel's vision blurred and then re-focused, he finally saw the stance of her body.

Limp. Motionless. Unresponsive.

"...Raven?" Savior said, as he reached up and shook her, as the chains on Raven's wrists clattered lightly. Raven did not respond.

As Savior lifted her head up.

And looked into her lifeless eyes, and the path the tears had traced down her face.

* * *

_She'd never given up._

_But her wind had come too late. She had remained inactive too long. The poison had run too deep._

_She'd never given up. Never given in to the pain._

_But even as she made it down to the last few centimeters of her chains, she felt the darkness clawing at her, pulling her down. She'd fought and screamed and cursed._

_But in the end, it had her._

_So close..._

_And yet so far..._

_As she went down._

_Blackness._

_Burning, suffocating blackness.

* * *

_"...no." Savior whispered.

Not this. Any fate, any punishment, any condemnation...but NOT THIS.

NOT ALL _**FOR NOTHING.**_

It was a trick, a final test, one last drop in Jigsaw's bucket of atrocity. Savior slapped himself, hammered on his injured cheek, trying to force himself back into proper reality, to not be fooled...

...but there was nothing to fool.

Raven was de-

NO SHE WASN'T!

"Wake up!" Savior said, as he seized Raven and shook her. No response. He slapped her across the face. Nothing.

"...on the edge...have to...WHERE ARE THE ANTIDOTES!" Savior screamed as he reared up and tore through the room, hunting for the syringes, what he'd been promised, they were here, the tape had SAID...!

_The tape had said John had the antidotes ON him._

_And John wasn't here._

And it was too late...

No. The symbols. Maybe they had something to do with it! They had to just be in this room for a reason!

Savior furiously attacked the first symbol he came to, clawing at it with his right hand (his left hand was far too mangled to function in such a way). The symbol broke apart under his desperation-fueled slashings...but nothing changed, as Savior moved onto the next symbol, and then the next one on the door itself, ripping them apart...

And nothing changed. Savior sank to his knees, looking at his bloody fingers before he crawled back over to Raven.

"Wake up please..." Savior begged, as fresh streams began running from his face. His tear ducts, raw and strained, had seemingly been utterly exhausted with Robin, but he was also wrong there, as they mixed with the blood on his face and dripped down onto the floor. "Please...I'll die...anything...just wake up...wake up..."

No answer. Savior took Raven's hand and clutched it to his face, trying to will anything, the faintest spark, the tiniest bloom...

Nothing.

He'd killed all his friends for a corpse.

Raven was dead.

"...............................................I'm sorry..." Savior said, as he bowed his head, still holding her hand to his face. "I...I should have...should have...should have killed myself. Should have left it to them...oh God what have I done...I'm so sorry...I'm...I'm..."

He was going to just sit there and die.

How could he...

How COULD he...

...._**NO.**_

And as Noel looked back up, he felt no more pain, no more exhaustion, no more weakness and despair, all of it burned away by a rage that rivaled anything any god or devil had ever felt.

His body began screaming in utter agony, even the deadened nerves set alight by what exploded in him.

But his fury was so great that even that soul-destroying pain was cowed by it.

"_**JOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_

And the Shimmer came, erupting out through his body and tearing across the entire room, ripping the remaining symbols apart as the blades tore through the steel surrounding Noel. If Noel had had any sense, he would have seen the holes shot through his power, like rotting wounds infected with gangrene. The damage the poison within him had done to the nerve-based energy was as terrible as what it had done to Noel's mind: It's lashings were its last gasp, called out through a blockage it had only punched through by destroying all the surrounding areas.

But all Noel had was the rage, and his one final goal on this planet.

"_**JOHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

* * *

**_And somewhere...John stood in the dark. Watching on his sole monitor.

His face bore no joy. No fear. No disappointment.

Just, as always, the analyzing gaze.

As he reached down and pressed one final button.

* * *

And Savior turned from his final failure and ripped his way through the manager's office, his overwhelming anger fighting with his disintegrating nervous system with every step he took. But Savior was beyond any pain now.

He was going to find John. And no matter what it took, he was going to destroy him. Whether it reversed everything or not, Savior didn't know or care.

John Kramer would die. Savior didn't care if he had to rip the whole hotel apart, if he had to claw onward until there was nothing left of him but bones and rage. He would find John, and he would show him the unspoken rule of his game: heroes did not lose. They may fail and die, but they never...

...dots.

There were more dots down the hallway.

Leading away from the room.

As Savior realized that this wasn't a case of one-moment-too-late. This had all long been planned and set up.

And the rage blasted through him even more savagely, as the Shimmer tore down the hallway, ripping into the walls to drag Savior along. What did this lead to? Another tape? Some summoned monster, a dip finally into another film series, to finish him off? Another gun with instructions to do himself in? If John thought he was...

And Savior pulled himself around another corner.

And found the dots leading to the wall.

What had ONCE been a wall.

In reality, it had been a carefully camouflaged door, much like the one that had led Rob out of Noel's never-done trap, slid open to reveal a deeply shadowed room within.

And in the light that shone into the room, John Kramer, Jigsaw, stood illuminated in his crimson robe.

And despite all his anger, for a moment Noel hesitated. This couldn't be what it appeared to be...

WHO CARED KILL KILL KILL _**KILL**_...!

And so Savior tore down the hallway towards John. The gamesmaster didn't move...

As Savior's body suddenly went numb, and the Shimmer broke apart and dumped Noel onto the ground a few feet from the door.

His anger may have been truly mighty, but even it could only hold the tide of damage at bay for so long, especially when said anger greatly exacerbated the damage it was trying to hold back. And he'd broken down, as the pain returned, and his blood flowed...

But despite it all, Savior kept moving, as he began crawling towards John.

"...you....BASTARD." Savior snarled. "YOU...PROMISED...!"

"I didn't promise you anything Noel." John said.

"You...Raven..." Noel gasped, and then vomited more blood out onto the floor, the retching briefly silencing his words as he lay on the ground.

"...she was...stuck in a chair...stationary...no movement...even considering what I have...she shouldn't have died...shouldn't have...was it all a lie?" He whispered.

"Yes."

Savior was struck silent: despite his accusation, that was not the answer he'd been expecting. Jigsaw was capable of muddying an issue...but outright lying? That went against all he stood for.

"...you...after all that about...helping...teaching...it was all bullshit?"

"The only lie I told you was of the existence of those antidotes for you and Raven. I meant what I said in my criticism of your so-called mission, and it would be against my creed to set up a test that could not be survived... but these circumstances have led me to make an exception."

"...WHAT?" Noel gasped.

"You didn't find it strange that of all the pitiful people in this city, that I chose you? Surely the criminals in this city, such as the HIVE or other idiots wasting their lives, would be more suitable for my games. They need to learn, to be rehabilitated, much more than any of you Titans, even if you do just exacerbate the problem. You're the strategic expert, Noel." John said. "Why would I choose you Titans instead of someone more deserving, then put you in a test that had no chance of your survival?"

"You...you..." Savior gasped, more blood leaking from his mouth as the numbness began growing within him again, and his crawl towards John slowed even more, even though Noel was by now partly through the doorway...as he realized the truth. "...IT WASN'T YOUR CHOICE."

"Of course not. While you children have a lot to learn... I am hardly an appropriate teacher. Your delusions about the world aside, you value your lives. You were certainly willing to kill each other for them, given the right incentive. In the end, you won out, Noel. Had you all realized this was not my doing to begin with, however, you and Raven would have been the only casualties..."

"...you couldn't have...even a genius couldn't predict with certainty that I'd...choose what I did..."

"I didn't have to. Human nature isn't as complex as people try to make it out to be. Social norms and culture attempt to redirect or mold it into something else, but in the end, everyone has a base desire to save what he or she values most. If you were my only target, I would have just ransomed your antidote and let you shoot yourself. You value your life, but not more than the Titans' lives." John said. "No, I needed everyone dead. So all I had to do was separate you from Raven, include her in the ransom, and you would take care of the rest. It's human nature. Simple and predictable."

"But you...you don't exist..." Noel gasped. "You're energy cast in lies, the face of an actor's efforts...you're smoke, nothing more then a mirror image of a movie creation..you can't go against his character, his character is all you ARE...his character shouldn't...have killed all my friends...shouldn't have attacked us...to begin with..."

Silence.

"...it made you more, didn't it?" Noel said. "And its price...was what's been paid."

"It gave me a test. I could have refused and faded into the darkness... but instead I set up a game for myself and 10 "heroes". If they all ended up dead in the end, I would not only survive, it would ensure my disease would not end my life as it's supposed to." John said.

"............and what if...I'd failed...and they hadn't..."

"You killed most of them with a gun. Without your powers or proper defenses, and after sustaining all that damage, every Titan you didn't kill would have only needed to be shot. I may be old, but I can certainly handle a gun. Luckily for me, you saved me the hassle."

And as Noel looked up at John, the numbness growing ever stronger and farther through his body, he realized just how easily he'd been turned into a weapon. And it wasn't even for a misguided cause. Just the pure naked survival of a madman.

"..................I can't bring my friends back can I...it was all...part of your lie..."

"From what it told me, those reversals all occurred when whatever enemy you faced came in contact with its source: a videotape, DVD, or video game. Didn't you ever wonder why I didn't just convert your Tower to fit my game instead of moving you all here... where there's no such media to be found?"

Noel couldn't move any more.

"...oh you bastard...you MURDERER..." He whispered.

"Me? You all had enough information to figure this out on your own. It wasn't the same as it was in past years. Your assumptions and flaws are the only thing to blame here. After all, if you had just stopped and done some thinking, all of your teammates, save you and Raven of course, would still be alive." John said. "I am not a murderer. I was ready to kill you all to ensure my survival. I had a purpose I meant to achieve. But in the end, I only killed you and Raven with that poison. You killed all of them for nothing, and lacked even the strength to thoroughly think it through before committing yourself to it. All I did was give you a gun and tell you that Raven was going to die. You did the rest on your own. You are the murderer, Noel."

And Noel lifted up a hand, helplessly grasping at John.

And then fell flat, his body going limp, as his head dropped to the ground. He did not move again.

"...And it seems that I've passed my test. It's too bad you couldn't be rewarded for passing yours." John said, as he turned around and turned the sole monitor in the room off and picking up his pig-mask before turning back as he began to leave...

As Noel's arm thrust back up...and rammed itself into the ground.

"Game's...NOT...DONE...YET...!" Noel hissed, as he began pushing himself up.

(And to _Saw_ fans, this is right around where "Hello Zepp" begins to play...)

"You...see us as children...well John...there are...three ways for a child...to end a game...they win...they lose...or they kick the board over and render it all...pointless...!" Noel hissed as he slowly got up. The pain, the numbness, none of it had faded...but the rage, the vengeance, had managed to swing ahead one last time. For one last move. "I'm...not...done...yet...and I'm not...GOING TO HELL...BY MYSELF!"

And for the first time, John's ever-passive, ever-controlled expression, broke, just a bit, as a new emotion finally made its way onto his features, a look of stunned surprise.

The pig mask fell at John's feet.

It wasn't much, but to Noel it was everything.

"We...don't lose." Noel said. "We may be killed...we may be tainted, be ruined...but one way...or another...we don't lose!"

And suddenly confronted by the defiance that a supervillain of the world he'd come to would have anticipated, John stepped back as he twisted his wrist, as a knife on a battle gauntlet beneath snapped out, as he slashed out at Savior's face...

Savior caught his wrist with his right hand.

"Now I see why you hide behind traps."

And the Shimmer surged up for one last effort, as it snapped the blade of John's wrist-gauntlet off before Savior backhanded Jigsaw, knocking him on the ground before him.

"You win John. And you _lose_." Savior said, as the Shimmer surged out and formed into a giant blade.

John stared up at Savior, as he raised the blade.

"GAME-!"

And the wires impacted on Noel's neck, and Savior's final efforts were suddenly overwhelmed by paralyzing pain, as the electricity shot through his body with a force so potent it smashed all his rage and hate to nothing, as all the strength left his legs and he collapsed before John in turn.

"Wha-AUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Savior screamed as he was shocked again.

John slowly got back up, picking up his fallen mask as he did so, as Savior agonized, the debilitating energy pinning him to the ground, his dying Shimmer unable to guard him as it normally would.

"...how...how...!" Savior said, as he tried to turn his head.

One more shock hit him, leaving him thrashing on the ground...as the other crimson-robed figure stepped from the shadows, features concealed by a pig-mask...and a gloved hand holding a taser. Cyborg's favorite taser, to be precise, as Savior stared in sudden horrified realization.

_...and he can have assistants to do the leg work..._

"...No...no not...!"

The second figure zapped Noel again, as he helplessly danced at the hands of the electricity, as the pain and numbness surged back over him...with the numbness overtaking the pain.

"...noooooooooo..." Noel wept. Not like this...

_...the Saw series loved last-minute twists..._

"It seems you were wrong, 'Savior'." John said, as he stepped around Noel's twitching body to stand by the other figure's side. "I didn't think you'd be capable of summoning that sort of strength again, but I doubt that your nervous system can handle the damage from the toxin and those shocks combined."

"I...I..." Noel wheezed. The darkness was coming. It would be here soon.

"It's not that you and your teammates didn't value your lives, Noel." John said, as he and his assistant, whoever it was, Amanda, Hoffman, a faceless entity animated by the terrible evil that had finally tasted triumph, began leaving the room, as Noel reached out towards them, the Shimmer emerging...

And breaking apart, vanishing into the ether. Unlike the last time, Noel was not hiding a recovery. This time, he really didn't have anything left.

"It's simply that you didn't value them as much as I value mine. I arranged everything so in the end, one way or another, you would all die." John said.

Savior looked at John with his final surge of horror, as he tried to bargain, plead, beg, with any force that was out there that he could live one minute more, ten seconds, three seconds, to stop this hypocrite, this monster, before he unleashed himself on an unknowing world, before he brought his suffering backed by an inhuman, unfathomably powerful evil, onto all the innocents he dared to judge, judgment he wasn't worthy to wield, and yet wielded so very well...

...but there was no answer.

Save the darkness.

Laughing at him.

"You learned the value of survival, Noel." John said, as he placed his hand on the door. "And you've lost."

"NO, NOOOOOO!" Savior screamed: how could he die like this, how could he fail...how could he LOSE?

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Blackness.

Burning, suffocating blackness.

"GAME OVER!"

And the door slammed shut.

* * *

_(...Credits begin rolling, as Disturbed's "Guarded" begins playing)_

**Subject**: Paul Stallberg  
Test: Escape razor wire maze in three hours.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: Mark Rodriguez  
Test: Decipher combination to safe with key; numbers on wall; shattered glass on floor; doused in flammable jelly and carrying candle.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: Amanda Young  
Test: Jaw splitter; must retrieve key from stomach of "dead" cellmate.  
Result: Passed

**Subject:** Detectives Steven Sing and David Tapp  
Test 1: Power drills on each side of subject Jeff's head, and strapped to chair; must be released by detectives.  
Result 1: Passed  
Test 2: Avoid quadruple shotgun trip wires.  
Test 2: Failed (Sing)/ Passed (Tapp)

**Subject**: Zep Hindle  
Test: Monitor Gordon and Faulkner to ensure they conduct the test properly; kill Gordon's family if he fails.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: Michael  
Test: Remove right eye in order to get the key to remove the Venus fly trap mask.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: SWAT  
Test: Avoid trap stair with electrified fence.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: Obi  
Test: Furnace; bypass the flames in order to shut off the gas feeding them.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: Xavier  
Test 1: Retrieve the key to a safe containing the antidote to the poison gas from a pit of needles.  
Result 1: Passed  
Test 2: Survive the others in the house and retrieve an antidote.  
Result 2: Failed

**Subject**: Gus and Addison  
Test: Razor box containing glued antidote; key behind the box would open the top safely.  
Result: Gus failed before reaching trap. Failed by Addison.

**Subject**: Laura and Jonas  
Test: Retrieve an antidote and survive the others in the house.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: Detective Eric Matthews  
Test 1: Listen to Jigsaw so his son would be revealed and neither he nor anyone of his crew would be in danger.  
Result 1: Failed  
Test 2: Escape the bathroom by any means necessary before dying.  
Result 2: Passed

**Subject**: Daniel Matthews  
Test: Survive others in the house with Amanda by any means necessary.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Marissa Mori  
Test: Escape bunker filling with hot tar before drowning or burning to death.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: Sophie Matthews  
Test: Escape strap table by any means necessary.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Robert Candide  
Test: Escape impalement chair.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Nigel Hastings (Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock)  
Test: Escape elevator and bomb.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Victor Stone  
Test: Remove body parts until he finds combination to safe containing the antidote.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Tara Markov  
Test: Match 6 hidden keys to safe with antidote and door to exit while walking on floor with tar, nails, and glass.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Garfield Logan  
Test: Fight and kill a rabid bear to retrieve antidote in wax in its stomach.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Kory Anders (Koriand'r)  
Test: Climb electrified cage to retrieve antidotes in a cooler hanging over the roof.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Tim Drake  
Test: Pass through wire/blow torch trap to retrieve antidote and key before the oxygen runs out.  
Result: Passed

**Subject**: Raven  
Test: Sacrifice humanity to gain enough demonic power to escape on her own and stop Noel.  
Result: Failed

**Subject**: Noel Collins  
Test: Kill each Titan to gain an antidote for himself and Raven.  
Result: Passed.

Test 2: Escape John and leave hotel.

Result: _**FAILED**_

"_**YOU DID DECIDE!"

* * *

**_"_The tragedy of life is not that man loses, but that he almost wins."_

-Heywood Broun

_**THE END**_

_**(Or so the readers thought, when this was originally posted on Oct 31st 2008, having been told the whole time there would only be twelve parts to the story. You, later reader, know by the chapter headings you have seen that this did not turn out to be true. While you cannot be surprised like many other readers surely were the next day, you can still see how this truly ends. Read on...)  
**_


	13. Game Over

Chapter 13: Game Over

"_When hope dies, what else lives?"_

-Ama Ata Aidoo

"...I can barely believe it." Pig Mask said, as she leaned on the door, staring at the wall: she heard nothing, though she wasn't sure of the reason for it, and didn't really want to know.

"Were you expecting me to fail?" John asked, as he began to walk down the hallway.

"...do you want me to be honest?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked."

"...well...yes." Pig Mask said, as she pushed off the wall and fell into step beside John. "You just have to understand John...those Titans...they fought a creature that had conquered an entire separate universe, a-a crazy teenage boy who could push PLANETS around and be harmed by virtually nothing, a supreme magician that could twist reality in a way that makes our construct here look like a bucket sandcastle..."

John looked at his assistant, his gaze once again its passive analysis.

"...even the master failed against them. And yet...you killed them. You succeeded where gods and devils all failed."

"I'd be lying if I said it hadn't given me advantages during the whole process..." John said, as Pig Mask reached up and removed said mask, revealing a young woman with brown hair. "...Miss Mori."

* * *

_Blackness._

_Burning, suffocating blackness._

_Pain. Such unbearable pain, all around, everywhere, ripping her apart..._

_...pain..._

_And suddenly...somehow...the pain faded. As if the nerves had destroyed themselves in the overwhelming negative stimuli applied to her. Leaving nothing in its wake._

_Except her mind._

_And with nothing in the way...suddenly she realized._

_She'd fallen into the tar. There was no way she could escape...that way._

_BUT THERE WAS ANOTHER WAY._

_And suddenly the pain was back, even as Marissa pulled herself up, all of the agony of her burns made second by her need to expel the choking heaviness from her mouth, as she hacked and retched out the tar she'd almost inhaled and gasped air into her lungs, as she clawed at her face, trying to clear her eyes. God, she could barely see, one eye wasn't working at all, and god it burned..._

_But the other still worked, granting her some blurred vision, as she tried to look around._

_The TV._

_The TV that had given her the message. It was set into the wall. SHE COULD TAKE IT OUT._

_And so Marissa turned and staggered towards the TV, the burning pain of her body battling against her last final determination, as she reached the TV and pushed against it._

_It moved...barely. That small possibility briefly shoved down her pain once more, as she hammered frantically on the plastic frame that held the TV in, leaving smears of bloody tar on it as she bashed all she had left against it, as it began to crack, as her muscles exploded with one last desperate surge..._

_And then the TV was gone, shoved free of its makeshift brace and crashing to the ground outside, leaving an unblocked hole out of her prison, as she grabbed the edge and forced herself through, barely aware of the edges peeling tar and burning skin off her body..._

_And then she was out, as she collapsed on the ground below the hole, barely aware of the glass from the shattered television cutting into her as she crawled away._

_She was free..._

_She'd made it..._

_And then she was gone, her mind swallowed by the darkness, as her ravaged and tar-caked body lay on the ground, even as her skin continued to burn.

* * *

_Burns that were strangely absent on Marissa Mori's features now. She didn't even have skin graft scars.

"The master _is_ strong. And despite what some say, just." Marissa said. "He...helped me with certain...problems I had within me. And he gave me a new mission in life. Though I can appreciate yours."

"While it and I have our disagreements on methods, I believe our goals are the same. A better world for better people." John said. "However, I must commend you on your assistance...."

* * *

_Even backed by the power, even with his disease arrested and his health and vitality restored to aid him in his test, it would be very hard for John to get around the hotel and arrange things as it had been done..._

_So Marissa had left yellow dot trails..._

_And watched Gauntlet, Terra, and Beast Boy..._

_And been chased by Rob as she lured him to the appropriate location..._

_And then done so again, catching Noel's attention before she fled past the slightly open door, taking refuge in the hidden room Noel had ultimately been destroyed in, all under the careful instructions of the whisper in her ear...

* * *

_"...I hadn't expected you to have the stomach for this, especially since two of them had tried to help you before." John said.

"I owe him more than them. They tried, but he succeeded. It is that simple. And it IS a him, John. He did not ask you to serve him, but you could at least show him some respect."

John chuckled.

"Isn't it respectful to use 'it' as he detests his humanity?"

"He detests their weakness, not humanity itself. Otherwise, he would have burned this world to a dead cinder long ago."

"Very well. You checked all of the bodies, didn't you?"

"All of them save Raven's and Savior's. Savior's lure kept me from having the time to check Raven's...but considering I removed the safeguards on this, I have no doubt of _his_ fate." Marissa said, as she indicated Cyborg's taser before she slipped it into her robe, even as she rolled back her sleeve and pressed a button on a device on her wrist, as the plastic on it slid aside to reveal a beyond bleeding-edge computer, the screen appearing as a hologram above it as she typed at the buttons on it. "But that's why I planted reading devices on all of them. I'll call up their bio-readings...well, their LACK of readings anyway...for one last check...and then we should leave. Swiftly. Word will spread quickly of what we've done here. And there will be...a great deal of anger John. Of beings you want nothing to do with even IF they have no powers."

"I never planned on staying to begin with. Your master already has his grip on the world...I'd rather work where I'm needed."

"Sometimes I wonder if you're the..."

And then she paused.

"What is it?" John asked.

"...an error, must be..." Marissa said, as she pulled her pig-mask back on: unlike John's, which was a simple disguise, Marissa's was wired with high tech circuitry which granted it a great deal of other functions, many of which had proven useful in her task as John's assistant. "I'm reading movement back there, but there's nothing left in..."

And then the hidden door exploded, Marissa recoiling with a slight scream, and even John starting a bit...as a thrashing, roiling mess of white energy lines whipped out through the smoke and tore down the hallway at the pair.

"SHIT! THE DAMN POWER!" Marissa yelled, as she got in front of John and pressed another button on her wrist...

As the lashing, disintegrating lines of the Shimmer energy impacted on a flickering wall of energy, as Marissa threw up a protective force field around herself and John, as the dying power hammered futilely on the barrier. Had the energy been at full strength, Marissa would have been deeply concerned...but the nerve poison had been killing it as surely as its wielder, and it showed, as its blows were weak and lethargic.

That wasn't much comfort to Marissa, who snarled.

"Damn it! We didn't think it would be able to function separate of its host with so much damage! I hate it when incomplete data goes wrong!" Marissa cursed, as the Shimmer continued to whale on the force field. After his initial surprise, John had swiftly returned to his calm scrutinizing appearance, as he watched the Shimmer power bang hopelessly on the shield. Had Marissa deemed to ask, he would have said he found it interesting: as far as he knew, the Shimmer was just a backup nervous system with a few other functions, and yet it could operate without a host, much like a chicken with its head cut...

And then abruptly the assault ceased, as the Shimmer surged over the dome shape of the protective energy and thrashed down the hallway, it's movements growing even slower and weaker. It too was almost dead, just like the team it had so valiantly served.

"...you see why I wasn't certain about you winning. Those damn heroes...they're always pulling...stuff...out of their..." Marissa trailed off.

And then she began rapidly typing at the wrist computer again.

"Now what?" John asked.

"Why did it stop attacking us?" Marissa said. "Nothing else it can do...unless..."

And then a screen of slightly bobbing lines appeared on the holographic screen, as Marissa gasped.

"Oh no."

"Some warning of what to expect would be appreciated, Miss Mori." John said, ever calm.

"Raven's not dead!" Marissa said, as she continued typing. "Her bio-signatures have almost bottomed out, but she hasn't crossed the line yet! Right on the verge...no wonder Savior thought it was too late!"

"If she's still alive, then we had best remedy this problem while we still can." John said. Marissa nodded, as she slammed her wrist computer shut and pulled up her other sleeve as an energy cannon expanded out from the other tech gauntlet she had on her other arm, as she turned and sprinted down the hallway after the Shimmer.

John followed in her wake, as it began to dawn on him just why the so-called villains of this world seemed to have such a poor track record.

* * *

The Shimmer _was_ dying, in its own form of pain, unable to help its wielder as it normally did from the poison that had been injected into him, and its efforts to keep him alive had actually made things worse, as it had allowed the host to survive beyond the threshold of normal nervous system damage, turning him into a near-unstoppable killing machine who had futilely killed his own friends. And then when the host had gone beyond all limits and manifested it through incredible damage it had still failed.

The host had died.

And without a host to bond with, the Shimmer would soon follow suit. In a way, it too was nerve tissue. It was how it regenerated the naturally non-healing cells: it swapped the dead ones with its own, and utilized its own unique properties to revitalize the cells it had taken.

But it couldn't do that here. Not with the poison. The healthy tissue of its body had long been outpaced by the dead and dying.

But it had some left.

And it had its host's final order.

As it surged along the hallways, even as more and more of it broke off and vanished into nothing, the rudimentary mind almost losing itself multiple times...but it had been, until this night anyway, been the tool of a hero. The connection went both ways.

As it found the door, flying through it and the other door beyond...

And into Raven.

* * *

As Marissa chased after it as fast as she could, unable to tell John what she had theorized: Raven was nearly dead, but her death was solely from the nerve toxin. She had no other wounds.

And the Shimmer could regenerate nerve tissue.

But that was when the Shimmer was healthy! The nerve poison had been specifically concocted to attack and destroy IT as well! Surely it was far too weak to restore Raven's destroyed systems...!

* * *

And it was, as it normally did.

But it wasn't doing that.

_Save her. Please._

The host had had no real idea if he wasn't wasting his last gesture. As far as he knew, Raven was dead. But he'd thought he'd been saving her too, and he'd been wrong there. And so as death claimed him, he'd made his final command. And left with nothing else to do except die itself, the Shimmer had listened.

It would try and save her.

And so the Shimmer shot through Raven's body, locating all the poisoned and dead cells of the nervous systems...and swapping them with the remaining healthy cells it still had, even as it also surged through her circulatory system and sucked up all the nerve toxin there, swallowing down the damage and poison, even as its efforts grew fainter and fainter, as it tried to take away the damage...

Give her one last chance...for its last act...

_Save her._

_Please._

And Raven reared up and gasped in air.

* * *

As Marissa leapt through the door and rammed her arm gun into Raven's forehead, as Raven brought back to sense just a moment before, looked at Marissa's masked form with stunned, unbelieving eyes.

"Hello Raven." Marissa said, as she charged up her shot. "Good-"

And the faint, ragged remains of what had once been the Shimmer shot out of Raven's chest and slammed into Marissa, as she was thrown backwards out through the door with a furious scream.

Raven stared...as she finally understood.

As the last broken remains of her boyfriend's power pooled out before her, spasmed once more...and then collapsed, breaking apart and vanishing on the wind until there was nothing left.

Raven watched it die. The final sacrifice.

And as a pair of new tears leaked from her eyes, she realized something else.

* * *

The same thing Marissa was realizing as she flew out through the manager's office door and crashed against the wall, as John came to a sudden stop at her side as she abruptly flew out into the hallway.

Marissa was barely aware of him: something she'd caught in her peripheral vision had roared to the forefront.

Savior had had no symbol to block his power: his seal had solely been the poison within him causing him overwhelming pain if he tried to manifest his power. He had not managed to wreck his personal symbol in the room earlier by chance.

But Raven's powers _had_ been sealed by the symbols.

AND SAVIOR HAD DESTROYED THEM.

And just when she'd been about to finish Raven off...!

"...this will prove difficult." John said, as he pulled out his own gun...

As the shriek filled the air, slamming into Marissa and John's ears and making them both recoil. The scream was inhuman, a cry of pain that hit on a spiritual level as well as a physical one.

As blackness exploded everywhere, ripping doors off their hinges, tearing through the walls and ceilings, and sending a hurricane of debris shooting down the hallway that battered the pair, even as the continuing scream rent at their ears.

"JOHN RUN!" Marissa tried to yell over the noise. "GET OUT OF...!"

And the doorframe in front of the pair was wrenched open and then torn apart, as Raven floated through the panic room door, awash in her dark energies, black power burning on her form and crackling off her hands as she floated towards them.

Marissa snapped up her arm and aimed, firing a prolonged spray of energy blasts at the sorceress. They blinked out of existence a foot from her.

John was no coward. Not any more. But he knew good advice when he heard it, and so he turned to flee. Marissa would keep Raven distracted, and then...

Raven was in front of him.

"NO." She hissed.

The black power seized him, wrenching him off his feet and backwards, casting his gun away as an afterthought. Marissa cursed and tried to re-aim...before black power in turn seized her weapon and ripped it off her wrist, even as more black clawed appendages grabbed her and immobilized her in turn.

John thought he had seen hate before in Noel's eyes, but nothing matched the black pits that now served as Raven's gaze, as she looked upon the pair.

And then...briefly...her anger seemed to fade, as if she wasn't all there. And she wasn't. She was searching.

For a sign. Any sign.

And for the first time in her life, she found none.

Her friends, her teammates. All dead.

Gone.

She hadn't wanted to believe the information the Shimmer had brought her, along with one last chance at life...but here it was, undeniable. The Titans were dead.

And there was no reversal switch. No bringing them back.

For a moment, Raven almost seemed to wilt and break down.

And then the glare returned to her eyes, as she looked at John Kramer, Jigsaw. Their murderer.

"...you didn't even have the decency to be misguided." Raven whispered.

"...and you do?" John replied.

Raven stared at the man, who was looking into the face of death itself...and showed not an iota of remorse.

"...I protect. You destroy. But not this time."

And Raven thrust up her hand, as the blackness appeared in her eyes again, even as Marissa began to scream behind John.

"AND I ALWAYS KEEP MY PROMISES." Raven snarled, as her eyes glowed as dark as the void. "_SHAH MAT_."

In the end, the only mercy John Kramer got was that Raven's fury was too powerful to make it last.

* * *

Some time later, Raven came back to her senses, staring at what she had done.

And with her rage burned out, the cold hard reality once again settled on her.

Even if she'd had the control and the sadism to make it last, instead of the brutal oblivion she'd visited upon Jigsaw and his unknown female assistant (Raven could tell that she was female, and nothing more, from what was left, and she didn't care about anything more anyway), it wouldn't have been enough.

Nothing would have been enough.

The Titans were dead. And the atmosphere had seen to it that there was no going back this time.

Numbly, Raven fell to her knees, staring at her handiwork, the destruction she'd wrought on her friends' killers...and it all meant nothing. She was all alone.

Just like before.

...it wasn't fair.

It was that, along with her grief, that crashed through Raven's soul with an icy pain that could have frozen hell. Heroes died, she knew that...but they died saving people. They died battling against evil. Sometimes they died brutally, or cruelly, or seemingly futilely...but in the long run, their deaths MATTERED.

They weren't supposed to die like THIS, caught in the grips of an evil unnatural force that destroyed because that was all it existed to do, an aberration of life that twisted the world into tangled messes for no reason other then to do it, and did so in such an absurd way. Animating horror films?

All her friends were dead, her lover a murderer, because of something like THAT?

THAT?

That wasn't how it was _DONE._

It wasn't _fair_.

_IT WASN'T FAIR._

She couldn't let it stand. For all the pain that had been laid upon her, for such pointless nonsensical reasons...

"...vengeance..." Raven whispered.

And the hotel hallway suddenly went as black as pitch and as cold as the grave, as Raven's eyes blazed dark power and her fury rebuild once more inside her before it unleashed in one last primal scream.

"_**I..........DEMAND...........VENGEANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_

The darkness swallowed her scream, as Raven stared out with her pitch black eyes, as her fury blazed like a shining star...

...and then faded away, as the despair returned.

Nothing...

Nothing...

All alone...for...

...she was not alone.

Not any more.

As the corpse-like figure cloaked in green suddenly stepped from the darkness behind her.

"...you _**DARE?"**_ Said The Spectre.

And as Raven began to turn, fingers that commanded unfathomable power reached out and seized her throat, as the Spirit of Vengeance and the agent of God's own wrath slammed her against the nearest wall.

"YOU WOULD PRESUME TO CALL ME, LIKE I AM SOME SIMPLE BOON TO USE AT YOUR WHIM?" The Spectre vociferated, as Raven's flesh sizzled beneath her fingers. "YOUR ARROGANCE IS EVEN GREATER THAN YOUR WOE!"

Raven stared at the Spectre's blank white and pitiless eyes, her own eyes holding no such presumptions. She had simply let out all she had in a cry...and beyond all hope, it had been answered.

"...and is my woe...not sufficient?" Raven whispered.

"IT IS NOT YOUR PLACE TO CONSIDER MY WORK. TO BRING ME HERE, TO CALL ME TO YOUR OWN TASK...HAVE YOU NO IDEA WHAT YOU INVOKE? THE POWER THAT YOU DARE TO COMMAND?"

"I command nothing." Raven replied in her soft whisper. "I only ask for your purpose...whether in my service or against me. I will accept...whatever you decide."

The Spectre had no reply...but the terrible coldness in his expression seemed to fade a moment, his features becoming less divine and more human, the faintest trace of a short beard now apparent on his face.

"...there is nothing I can do here." The Spectre said. "You have taken your own vengeance. Your voice calls without point or purpose. No matter your grief, it is not excusable..."

"I do not wish death...for my vengeance. It is empty...it holds nothing...it solves nothing...not here...I instead beg you to listen..." Raven said. "This time...I wish life."

The Spectre's gaze hardened again.

"I DO NOT BRING LIFE."

"And death should not have come here." Raven said. "You feel it, don't you? The unnatural presence? It does not belong here. It is not of his kingdom...and yet it works here. It animated a lie into a murderer and took the lives of my friends...and it did so without allowing what we knew could be done to stop it. This should not be. If this had happened any other time, any other place, I would never have tried to call you. Only because the natural has been corrupted...only because of that do I ask you what I do."

"That is not good enough." The Spectre replied.

"I ask for vengeance! In this, there will be vengeance! Far greater then death!" Raven cried. "You will strip away all a cruel, evil man has wrought, show him the futility of his crimes, break him with the nature of the way miracles can work here! It will be a far greater vengeance to wreck on him than any death! Surely you see that! Only for that, and the powers that do not belong...do I make my request."

The Spectre was silent.

"...you assume you know what has gone on here?"

"...I will admit...to not knowing everything...but knowing what I must. That it allows you to save my friends from this injustice, to avenge their death without bloodshed...I know that is within your power."

"Do you think it is simply a task to perform?"

"...no. I suspect not." Raven said. "...name the price."

"What will you pay?"

"Anything. Everything. All that I have, all that I am, and more." Raven whispered. "If it takes a thousand lifetimes, a million, until Destiny closes his book...I will pay it."

The Spectre looked at Raven.

"I do not ask for your life or service, but there will be a deep price to pay for such a choice you make, Raven." The Spectre said. "And even I cannot decide what it will entail."

"...I will pay it." Raven said. "No matter what. Please..............Crispus..."

"DO NOT." The Spectre thundered, as he let Raven go. "It is not your place."

And the Spectre turned away in a flutter of green cloak.

"But you are correct. His creation is scarred, poisoned from an hand unworthy to touch it...it had made the world unnatural. And He did allow you to bring me here, to let me know of it. I cannot presume to speak for Him...but I can speak for myself, and like any crime, THIS WILL NOT STAND."

And a great wind began to sweep up, as the Spectre raised his hands.

"AND SO, IN HIS NAME, I INVOKE VENGEANCE!" The Spectre thundered.

And a great roar sounded in Raven's ears, as her senses briefly lost anything resembling sense...

As near-omnipotent power swept down on the Whannel hotel, seizing onto the invading chaos and pulling it back. It fought and screamed all the way, but its power was nothing compared to the wrath that came down on it...

As time flowed back....

_A mercy stab...a treacherous shot..._

Wounds closed.

_A cruel backstab...a shattering impact..._

Lungs filled.

_A failed avenging...a noble sacrifice...a final cruel trick..._

And eyes opened.

_A fallen felled._

"AND SO IT IS DONE!" The Spectre thundered once more. "AND IN THIS, LET ALL IT HAS WROUGHT...BE _**UNDONE!"**_

The light was brighter then any star.

* * *

And John Kramer blinked his eyes open.

For a moment, he was very confused, as he was certain he was supposed to be dead. The last thing he recalled was the Raven woman, not dead and empowered once more, terrible in her wrath...

And then he was awake on the hotel floor.

He pushed himself up, blinking. His assistant lay nearby...alive as well: John could see her breathing. Her mask hadn't even been knocked off.

"Hello John."

And John turned to see Raven, no longer blazing with furious power...but with her hood up and her hands out slightly, as she looked at him, almost clinically, a mirror of his own constant gaze. "I wasn't exactly expecting this...but I'm not surprised." Raven said.

"...you did something to change what happened." John said.

"...it's really too bad how far you lost yourself John." Raven said, as she gestured, and John found himself floating off the ground, unable to move his arms or legs. "There's clearly such a mind behind here...like you say...what a waste. But yes. I did. That's how it works here."

"So you want revenge." John said. "How predictable."

"No John. No more revenge. No more pain." Raven said. "I have something else."

And Raven reached out and touched him.

And John suddenly felt it, all through him. The beating of hearts. The random thoughts of minds lacking fear or pain, merely confusion. The essence of life.

"Feel that?" Raven said. "That's what you took away from me. But it doesn't matter. Because it didn't stick."

And as good as John was at hiding his emotions, it didn't matter to Raven: she was an empath. She knew all.

And yet...she was a bit surprise at what she felt. Not rage or despair. Just...disappointment.

"I must say I'm impressed Raven. I wasn't informed you would have such abilities."

"...oh, but that is the thing John." Raven said. "I do not."

She twisted her hand, and John felt the life connection between himself and the revived Titans grow even stronger.

"Yet there they are. All your work, all your efforts, all your games...all cast aside, like nothing. You may have forced us to play in your world...but our world has its own games." Raven said.

And as John looked at Raven, she realized that despite all that...he still felt nothing. His only sadness was his failed chance to live longer. Besides that, as far as he was concerned, despite all that had gone down, he still viewed her as a child.

"...you assume I have LEARNED NOTHING?" Raven hissed, as her power clenched around John. "YOU PRESUME YOU HAVE ANYTHING OF MERIT TO TEACH ME!?"

"I showed you reality." John said. "All I did was deal you and your friends cards; each one of you chose how to play them. While you escaped and cost me my life.... you will still have to face that reality."

"Oh no John...that is not true. Because you speak for YOUR reality. You NEVER spoke for ours." Raven replied. "Let me tell you the rules of our game. People suffer. They die. They learn, and they refuse to learn. But in the end, we who move on always feel there was a purpose behind what we've gained and lost. There is nothing behind you John. Just a mind so diseased it can't even comprehend what it has lost any more. And a mind that has no right to condemn others for their failings. In a way John, you're just like your movies. Cruel, empty, and worthless."

Raven smiled a bit.

"Besides...you've seen how reality works for us, haven't you? Both in how you were backed by a power willing to twist it for your benefit...and how in the end, we can twist it right back. In a way, you're almost pitiful. So out of your depth." Raven said. "You were better off in your world. At least there, you had relevance."

And to that...John had nothing to say.

John's assistant began to stir behind him...and gasped in surprise as Raven seized her with her power in turn...and began to scream, a terrible scream of fear and panic. Raven ignored it.

"You're alive again John. Time to realize the horror of that." Raven said. "I do appreciate the irony. You wanted me to give up my humanity to save myself. Now you will learn how that served you better, in the end. My dark side would have just killed you. My human side is FAR, FAR WORSE."

And blackness began to surge around John, as his eyes flicked back and forth, and his assistant kept screaming behind her mask.

"It doesn't even have a name. About 97 percent of current maps don't have it. This little island, about eighty miles off our shore." Raven said. "Some base vegetation. No real animal life. Mostly just sand and rock. No one knows it's there. Except me."

The darkness increased.

"I think it's time for the teacher to practice what you preach. You want to learn about survival? That's a prime location. Because the odds that whatever is on that island...won't. But hey, I gave you a chance, didn't I?" Raven said. "I'm sure if by some miracle of your own, you get off, you'll appreciate life all the more."

"...I thought you said you didn't want revenge."

Raven smiled, but her smile had no mirth.

"I'm a hero." Raven said.

And she thrust out her hand.

"I'm not a saint."

And John found himself falling into the blackness.

And yet, despite all Raven said, as she cast him away, it was only his unknown assistant who screamed.

John Kramer didn't make a sound.

And then they were gone.

Raven stared at her work, and then all the strength left her again, as she fell to her knees. She was tired. So tired.

"...game over." She whispered.

* * *

"Raven?"

Raven looked up, not sure how long she had been staring at the floor. There was something bothering her, at the very back of her mind...

Until the voice reached her, and she looked at Noel. Alive, unharmed, and unbloodied.

But none of that mattered, because Raven remembered what had come before.

"Raven!" Savior said, as he sprinted over and knelt down beside her. "Are you all right?"

And as Raven looked at her love, she had no idea what to think. Here he was, alive again...and now came the real consequences, as the bile and anger began to rise in her...

"What's going on?"

And stopped abruptly.

"...Noel?"

"Yes Raven, it's me. Where are we? I...I can't remember anything." Noel said.

Raven stared. That wasn't how it worked. Would he dare lie to her? Try and act like he couldn't recall anything, to hide his crimes...

But...

She was an empath. And for all his cynical stratagems, he had never learned to hide his feelings from her. And even if he had...Raven had used their relationship to refine her ability to read _him_ in turn. In that, they were alike.

And...

"...Noel...what's the last thing you remember?"

"...we were leaving that restaurant. And then I woke up here...damn. Can't remember ANYTHING." Noel said, banging on his head with a palm. "What happened?"

Raven stared.

"...Noel...could you..."

"Yes?" Noel asked, as Raven reached up and put a hand on her love's forehead.

And looked into him, needing to be sure.

...and she found nothing.

The memories were not repressed, or hidden behind insane denial. They simply...weren't there.

_...let all it has wrought be undone..._

Things had been different. There had been no reversing trigger. Raven had had to invoke an agent of the higher powers to pull the Titans out of death's machine.

And...the reversal he'd wrought was different as well.

"...what happened Raven? Are the others all right?" Noel asked.

Raven stared at Noel, not answering.

"Raven, are you sure you're okay?"

"...oh. I'm...fine Noel. I'm just tired...so very tired." Raven said.

Was a crime a crime if it had never been committed?

Was a sin a sin if it was deemed to have never touched a soul?

Could you condemn someone for something that, through your actions, they ultimately never did, except, in a way, in a nightmare?

"...it happened again, didn't it." Savior said. "The atmosphere. It got us, somehow."

"...yes." Raven said.

_Even if so little made sense...that was what bothered her...the focus...the laser-sharp precise exploitation...John's own defiance of his creed supposedly in exchange for his own survival to keep practicing on others he deemed more worthy...the information the Shimmer had brought her, how did it add up..._

"...I died, didn't I." Noel said.

Was death not the great penance, wiping the slate clean? Considering he should not have been able to come back? Did that render the death moot?

"...yes." Raven said quietly.

"And you saved me."

Had she? Could it really be made that simple? Raven had brought the light of her world against the darkness John had been in service of...could it really leave so little in the way of shadows?

"...yes...?" Raven said, but in truth she had no idea.

As Noel reached out and hugged Raven, much to her surprise.

"Thank you." Noel said. "Forget what anyone has ever said. You're our angel, Raven. And I'll kill anyone who says otherwise."

Raven felt her heart twist painfully at the words.

"Maybe it's best I don't remember then. Sounds like..." Savior said.

And then a familiar noise came. The sound of a Titan communicator.

"Titans, come in! Report!" Robin said over the communicator, as Noel reached into his jacket and pulled his out, all equipment apparently restored as well.

"Savior here. I'm with Raven. She's completely worn out, but she's all right."

And somehow, despite already knowing they were alive, hearing their voices truly confirmed it for Raven. She'd been given a miracle, even for her life, and she'd never forget that.

But that fact quickly faded, as the Titans began to ask each other what was going on.

And Raven realized it _wasn't_ just Noel.

It was everyone.

Except her.

"...Raven, do you remember what happened?" Noel asked.

"...I...I..." Raven whispered.

"Hold up Savior. She's exhausted, like you said. Let her rest...she can give details later." Robin said. "Cyborg, what about your computers?"

"Checking man, but it looks like the data is hopelessly corrupted. I'm probably going to have to dump the whole week, darn it." Cyborg muttered.

Why did only she remember?

"It's strange." Noel commented. "I remembered what I did undercover during the HIVE manifestation...maybe it...Raven...who survived?"

"...I don't...want to talk about it."

"...all right." Noel said, as his face darkened at the implications. "It's okay. Just strange."

And Raven understood.

_...there will be a deep price you pay for such a choice you make..._

She remembered...because it was her choice what to do with what she remembered.

And she realized..._she didn't know_.

Had Noel made his choices entirely on his own, hers in turn would be clear.

But...

It wasn't clear. The atmosphere (...?) had been at work, subtly manipulating everyone and everything. And on top of that, Noel's mind had been attacked by the poison he'd been injected with, damaging his brain and altering his thought process. And yet...she couldn't blame it entirely on those two factors. Part of the actions had been Noel's, and Noel's alone.

...but she had no idea which, if any, was the primary force behind them. It was a gigantic cloud of murk, unable to tell one shade of gray from another.

She did not know if she should punish Noel, forgive him, or...

...she just didn't know.

And that was far worse to her than not knowing for certain, because Raven understood. She'd have to bear it alone.

Maybe her whole life.

For now, she would use her exhaustion, and think of just what to tell her teammates. And in time, maybe she would tell them the truth.

But for now...

She had to bear it.

There was always a price to pay.

"Any questions?" Robin was asking, Raven having completely zoned out during the following conversation as the Titans tried to put together what had happened.

"Yes, one!"

And a female face clad in a red and gold mask appeared next to Robin's, as Robin's face filled with surprise.

"Bette?" Robin said.

"Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Flamebird asked.

* * *

It was not for a long while that the Titans returned home. There was much investigating and talking, and Raven had withheld herself from the process by claiming (her very real) exhaustion. In the end, the Titans had found no trace of the chaos magics. It was gone, leaving just an old rotten hotel...and several very confused teenage heroes who wanted to know how they'd gotten there. Raven had kept herself separate from it all, not even getting any of their names, as Robin ultimately got a car to them that they could use to drive home. Having already dismissed her blackout, Flamebird had begun pestering the three male metahumans in the car if they were interested in forming a team...

Besides that, relatively little had happened...

_The golden energy fist slammed into Noel, as he went flying backwards with a surprised cry, crashing through the wall behind himself and out the window of the old room behind it, falling down and crashing down onto the sand with a shower of glass and debris._

"_ROB! THAT WAS SAVIOR!" Scalpel declared: the Titans on the ground floor had been trying to find each other, and Noel had walked through a door and into Rob's attack. Standing in the hallway, Raven had briefly wondered if she had been wrong and Gauntlet did remember what Noel had done to him. A quick mind check said he hadn't..._

"_I don't know...it just felt right." Gauntlet said._

_...likely._

"_Yikes. You really got him good there Gauntlet." Sophie said, looking at the holes in the wall, as Savior groaned and wiped sand off his face._

"_Why do I have the feeling I'm missing something here?" He said quietly to himself._

...for the most part.

But ultimately, they had gotten back.

"Ahhhhhhhhh, _mi casa."_ Beast Boy said, as the Titans walked back into the main room of their Tower, the blinds closed and the room dark with shadows. "No place like home."

"Agreed. All right guys...we're going to rest up for now. But tomorrow, barring further problems, we're going to properly debrief and try and figure out just what happened. You think you can do that Raven?" Robin asked.

Raven just looked at Robin, hoping her weariness hid her deeper discontent.

"It's all right. No rush." Robin said, sensing nothing wrong. His soul unburdened.

Was that the right thing to do?

"I just realized...what IS today?" Terra asked.

"Uh, lemme check my atomic clock...it's 6:30 AM, November 1st. All Saints Day." Cyborg said.

"WHAT? Aw man, we missed Halloween! No candy!" Beast Boy complained.

And as Raven listened to her friends begin to debate the virtues of still seeking candy even at their ages, she couldn't help but smile to herself.

Even as she suspected that her sole knowledge might not be all she had to pay. That somewhere down the line, her choice, and its full price, might become more apparent. That she had traded one hell for one that may be worse.

And yet...her friends were alive.

There was still what to tell them, how to tell them...and how much of the truth and its consequences she should reveal...but that could wait.

They were alive.

Let whatever the world could throw at them come.

She'd make sure that they'd stand together.

Whatever form of they they were.

"Friends, I do believe we have some candy tucked away somewhere...!" Starfire said, trying to play peacemaker.

"WHERE! GIMME!" Beast Boy and Gauntlet said at the exact same time.

"Maybe we should turn the light on first." Sophie suggested.

"Yeah, I was getting a bit sick of standing around in the dark..." Robin said, as he pulled out his communicator and pressed a button.

And the lights came on.

Revealing Billy on the back of the couch.

"HOLY...!" Terra shrieked, as the Titans leapt back and drew various weapons that they aimed at the doll. They stood for several seconds, not certain what to expect.

"...what is that ugly thing?" Starfire asked.

"Not sure..." Robin said, as he approached the strange doll.

As Raven stared in it, her eyes wide. Pieces were falling into place...

"Holy shit, it's Billy." Beast Boy said.

"Who's..." Robin began.

And then the doll began to laugh, a high-pitched repeating cackle, making all the Titans jump and aim weapons at the doll once more.

_The out of nowhere snatch, despite their precautions against the otherdimensional evil._

_The precise, almost surgical removal of their equipment and powers, designed to cause maximum pain._

_The delicate manipulations visited not just on Noel but on everyone._

_The laughter in the darkness..._

_...and a strange feeling she'd been wrestling ever since she'd banished John and his assistant, a nearly nonexistent twinge in the process...like...another hand reaching out into it..._

_A FAMILAR hand..._

And Billy spoke.

"Congratulations. You are still alive. Most people are so ungrateful to be alive...but not you. Not any more."

And Billy began to laugh again, the endless loop of malice.

Billy, here. After it had all been turned back. Speaking with the same taped voice. John's voice. After the atmosphere had been banished. _Hours ago._

"Geez." Beast Boy said. "The atmosphere...it did use _Saw._"

And Raven wanted to scream the truth she'd finally realized.

_IT WASN'T THE ATMOSPHERE.

* * *

_And somewhere else, the figure strode down the hallway, cloaks of black swirling around his form as he gestured towards the door in front of him, as it slid open to reveal a rather nervous Marissa Mori standing to its side...and John Kramer strapped in an exact copy of the chair Raven had borne most of her ordeal in.

"You failed me John." The Lord of the Night said.

_As Marissa Mori's horrifically injured body lay, burned to the point of death, on the filthy warehouse floor, two forms approached it._

"_...it seems questionable." John said, as he looked at the tar-covered girl. "Unusual that she could find clarity when she did, and make such a drastic turn around."_

"_She passed." The Lord replied. "She was only undone by random chance. So I...made sure things evened out in the end. Just enough to ensure a truthful result." _

"_Can this really be said to be truthful if it's also only chance that she thought of how to escape?"_

"_Perhaps...but every situation has its own variables." The Lord said as he knelt down. "And success speaks for itself."_

_As he touched Marissa Mori, reaching out to the black tar and changing it, as it began to sink into her flesh, and as Marissa gasped in shock, all of it vanished...its transformed state healing away her injuries, leaving not a trace of what she endured._

"_My apologies Miss Mori." The Lord said as he stood back up. "But I needed to...establish something. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't doubt your success."_

_John Kramer's expression showed he doubted the truth of those words, but the Lord paid that fact no mind._

_His thoughts were focused on other targets._

"Considering the events were beyond even you to prevent, I hardly consider it my failure. I killed all of the Titans, while you've never succeeded in killing any. I was asked to do that, not to oppose vengeful spirits." John replied.

"No John. You failed. Because you were WARNED the Titans had a habit of pulling dei ex machina out of their asses, and yet at the end, you failed to cover all the variables." The Lord said. "I gave you my assistant, but she was instructed to only do as you commanded. You weren't clear enough with the commands. And it made you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!"

John chuckled again. The Lord found it as grating as Raven had.

"Aren't you supposed to be the omnipotent god of the night? Yet here you are, trying to scare the only person to succeed where you had failed." John said. "Not only that, but if I recall, you were the one who told me that random chance should not deter a 'truthful result'. By your own logic, I should be rewarded... it's your own lack of insight that you did not require that those Titans remain dead when we had made our deal."

"Do you think I wanted to back out?" The Lord hissed. "It was difficult enough opening a crack and focusing the needed chaos energies through to manifest our needed scenario, give the appearance that it was just another incursion, AND allow me to keep total control...but there are things beyond even me. Not many, but I expected you to cover them...not allow things to go down in such a way that she summoned the SPECTRE."

"So you fled." John said.

"It was the only tactical choice." The Lord retorted. "Which I wouldn't have had to resort to if YOU HADN'T FAILED."

"Didn't you just say that using your own power to prevent such a situation was beyond you? Isn't that a failure of your own power, rather than mine?"

"YOUR failure led to MY failure. AGAIN!" The Lord cursed.

Marissa Mori watched, not sure what to think. It was clear to her that John was in the right...but he was in the right against her master. Even if The Lord had put her in a practice trap, it was just to assure himself of something, and he'd rewarded her for it. Cast off the demon that had infested her. Offered her a place in his shining new world. And he'd sworn never to let any harm befall her again...

_Raven had her, her wrath was directed on John but she would never escape it either, why had..._

_And then blackness consumed Marissa Mori. But there was no pain. Just the dark._

"_My apologies for the abruptness of this, Miss Mori. But I have learned to keep my word." The Lord's voice said._

"_...but sir! She'll know it was..."_

"_She only knows John for now, Miss Mori. You are an afterthought. She doesn't even realize it's you. And considering she just ripped one of my experiment subjects apart without even knowing there was a switch, it's probably best."_

_Marissa was quiet. She'd been in the jaws of death and the master had risked discovery to take her away. He'd kept his word._

_No one had ever kept their word to her._

_He didn't even complain of the great inconvenience of it all, though he'd found it wryly amusing that the Spectre had revived a completely uninvolved corpse and had been so caught up in his "vengeance" that he didn't even notice. He may have spoken for the divine, but the human he was bonded was all too clear at times, the Lord had said._

_And on top of it, when the Lord had reached out at the tail end of Raven's banishment and yanked John and the suddenly revived female back, even as he also returned Marissa to their home base, it was only John who was put in the chair. Marissa was free (what the Lord had done with the abruptly reanimated corpse, he had not said), and no accusation was directed towards her._

How could she speak out against that?

"Regardless of whether or not there was a possibility of my preventing Raven's actions, it was your responsibility to make sure everything was sealed properly." John said. "You made those seals in that room, and you chose to let them be visible. Had Noel not seen and destroyed them before his Shimmer revived her, she would have been powerless and easy to deal with. Instead, your desire to flaunt their impending death allowed this to happen. You let their world, their unique brand of fortune, take back control. You ruined the test. You can try shifting the blame onto me all you like, but this event only shows your lack of self control and impulsiveness. Even now, you're just throwing a tantrum like a child."

For a moment the air in the room grew thick and heavy, and black arcs of power crackled on everything around it as the Lord glared at John.

John held his own gaze. Certain in his view.

Holding the power of the truth.

As the black arcs died down, even as the atmosphere lightened.

"...you have a lot of gall, you know." The Lord said. "I brought you over from your realm. I prevented "world shock" as it were. And I gave you all the greater tools needed to ensure you could begin to test those Titans in the first place. All you had to do was keep all the pieces on your game board...and yet you couldn't..."

The Lord shook his head, darkly chuckling himself.

"And yet what does that say of me?" The Lord said. "Or you...deciding you should test something like me...all things considered?"

"If you hadn't noticed yet, I have nothing to lose here." John said. "If you choose to prove me right and just leave me here, I'll die here just like I would in "my world". If not, I get to return there to die anyway. That is, unless you're actually going to abide by our agreement."

"Yes...our agreement. 10 dead Titans. And in return, I arrest your fatal brain tumor and lock it off from the rest of your body, and repair the more inconvenient damage it did. So you can still hold fast to the truth you discovered, without the scythe of the reaper hanging above you." The Lord said. "But that was for TEN dead Titans."

The Lord raised a hand, stroking his chin.

"Even on the assessment of the permanence of the death...what should I do for nine?"

John said nothing: he just watched. As did Marissa, as she looked at her two masters playing their moral chess game.

"...I suppose one could consider that she was close enough." The Lord said, and turned around. "So a deal's a deal."

And the Lord raised his hand.

"Just one thing."

John watched.

"Putting a fatal brain tumor into a static state so the affect on the mind it's already had stays as is, but prevents any further damage to the mind or other aspects of the body, not to mention reversing all the less fortunate aspects of said brain tumor without affecting the desired keepsakes...well, as you know John, that goes against just about every biological law of nature the human body possesses." The Lord said. "On one hand, I never cared for law. But on the other..."

And the Lord put his fingers together.

"The devil's in the details."

And he snapped them.

And dark power suddenly crackled anew, and then surged into John, as he felt like his whole body was suddenly on fire AND being devoured from the inside out by piranhas, the pain so omnipresent he couldn't even scream.

But his eyes, filled with the shock of it, said it all, as the Lord turned his head back towards him. And despite his pain, John heard him.

"Maybe you could handle the pain of this highly unnatural process if you were say, an Indian fakir. But last I checked, you were just a sick old engineer with a lifetime of regrets." The Lord said. "So maybe I could have done something like keep the process smooth and successful...but eh. This is close enough."

And the Lord turned and began to leave.

As something reached his ears.

...laughter.

Marissa Mori very rarely saw her master look incredulous, but the Lord wore that expression now, as he turned once more to face John...who was not screaming, or cursing, or crying, but laughing, that same low dark chuckle, even through all the torment.

"You can...flaunt your power all you want..." John said, somehow. "But you're still human."

And in her master's eyes, Marissa suddenly saw a rage so deep and black it made all the other anger she'd been exposed to that night seem like nothing.

As The Lord snapped out his hand and dark power blasted from it, striking John and finally drawing a scream from him as the crackling power on him increased tenfold, before the Lord turned away, his black cloaks flowing and his eyes seething with the rage he'd tried to use to destroy the Titans.

And yet he failed again.

Movies did hate to stray from their established endings.

"Let's go Miss Mori." The Lord said as he walked past her, and Marissa obeyed, leaving John assaulted by the power in his chair, as the Lord waved a hand and turned out the lights in the room, as she walked through the door just before the Lord, as he turned around and grabbed it.

"GAME OVER!" The Lord snapped.

And amazingly...John laughed again.

"The game is NEVER over."

And in a cold fury, the Lord slammed the door shut.

...and yet somehow, John Kramer's laughter followed him all the way.

* * *

_(REAL credits begin rolling, as Disturbed's "I'm Alive" plays)_

**BOOGEYMEN IV TRIVIA!**

**1) Boogeymen IV has been three full years in the making after being delayed for two.**

**2) There have been 3 individual and distinct versions of BMIV. This published version is a highly refined form of the third version.**

**3) Risen-Corruption/Zia attempted to create a soundtrack that was planned to be mailed to any requesting readers for when BMIV was posted, but software issues related with making the playlists made it impossible to create the proper timing.**

**4) The idea of Noel killing Rob was one of the first ones brought up in BMIV version 1 and it lasted through every single version until it was finalized in this fanfic. Lucky him, huh?**

**5) Every single trap the Titans went through is either the 2nd version, 3rd version, or a new trap altogether when compared with the original ideas in BMIV version 1. One included a giant refrigerator and a sound-activated bomb, but it was scrapped when **_**Saw III**_** was released due to the similar freezer trap...and then recycled and modified again for the "unknown metahuman's" test trap.**

**6) Jedi-And and Slothsoul both volunteered to make a preview poster for BMIV, but real life complications and priorities delayed its creation so long that it was never finished. The only progress has been several rough drawings of the layout, style, and colors of 2 different versions of the poster. But hey, if anyone wants to give it another shot...**

**7) Marissa Mori was originally only going to be the cannon-fodder at the beginning of the story to establish that there were going to be deaths. Over the three years that BMIV was developed, that changed. Drastically.**

**8) The Lord's involvement was added into the second version of BMIV after his connection to the Orb of Archetypal was established in BMIII. Before that, BMIV was going to be a glitch and some chaos magic like the first three Boogeymen fics.**

**9) Raven's "price" was originally conceived as a complicated time loop involving the fact that Boogeymen IV went as badly as it did by saying Spectre erased prophetic memories that she had of the incident hence forcing her and the Titans to go through it instead of avoiding it...but Fridge Logic ultimately slammed down on it in regards to "how could she retroactively cause events she already experienced that she had already supposedly avoided" and it was changed to her knowledge burden. It's always annoying when great ideas end up making no sense...**

**10) We're not done yet.

* * *

**

The bear's name was Oski.

The Titans had searched the ruins of the Whannel Hotel, but they had found no bear, dead or otherwise.

Because Oski the bear was now in a cage in a large metal room, as he noisily ate the raw meat from a giant metal bin, grunting and snuffling and occasionally pausing to drink from a water tray. He showed no signs of rabies, and indeed said rabies was gone, cast away.

A fatal disease was nothing to the Lord, as he watched Oski eat a bit more and then turned, leaving. He would keep the bear a bit longer, fattening him up for proper hibernation, and then re-release it back into the wild with a proper memory wipe and let it resume living its bear life. It seemed only fair for the aid and pain Oski had lent in the Lord's ultimately failed plan.

The Lord loathed humanity as a whole...but he did not hate life. Not many people understood that fact.

Not many people understood, at all.

And so the Lord walked through the nearest wall, leaving Oski to eat his meal, walking through a few more before he entered another room.

Marissa said there, working on the blueprints of a device of some kind: she had clearly just started, as it didn't look like anything in particular yet. Many other, completed blueprints, were scattered around the long table she was working at. Though in truth, she didn't seem much into her work. The Lord suspected why.

"Do not concern yourself." The Lord said, as Marissa started and turned around. "John is dealt with. It's done."

"...something else was bothering me actually." Marissa said.

"Oh?"

"After the Spectre reversed everything, even though the Titans had their powers returned, they didn't know it was you. There was no indication at all. So why didn't you just go in and kill them all before they knew you were there?"

"...ah yes Miss Mori. I could have done that. Or I could just blow up their Tower while they're sleeping." The Lord said. "Tell me, considering what you've seen, of how I feel towards those Titans...why do you think I don't?"

Marissa stared at the entity that she'd come to serve for a moment.

"...you wanted them to turn on each other...dying was just a bonus."

"Exactly." The Lord said. "In what they did, I proved the truth of my words. I told Collins years ago that all I had to do to make him like me was hurt him enough. And I've learned there are many kinds of pain, Miss Mori. In the end, I was right. Maybe he doesn't remember it...but that wasn't in the plans. The Spectre was a real wild card, and it ruined the game in the end...but even if he doesn't remember it, I do."

"Well, you have that now. Are we going to focus on them still, or should we go ahead with the other plans?"

"Ah Miss Mori. You misunderstand. The focus and the other plans, they're all the same in the end." The Lord said as he turned away briefly. "Things have changed since the day when I was out of control, so filled with misanthropic hate that I backstabbed and harmed everyone around me I could, just because. None of my efforts bore fruit there...just the bitter taste of defeat. I do not like losing. John Kramer saw that firsthand."

Marissa said nothing.

"But I've learned from those experiences. But have the Titans? We shall see, won't we?" The Lord said. "So we'll continue with the plans. We will build, and expand, and recruit. And I will continue on myself, presenting the Titans and the world with more examples on how they know me. And should I come across another plan, I will put it in motion, if only to see how it turns out. Perhaps I will win the day myself. Maybe not. But whatever happens, the future is set."

And the Lord looked out at the room that Marissa was working in...a room that went on and on and on for miles, and was beginning to be filled with various robots in one corner, the animated mechanical devices working tirelessly to build more of themselves. Half of them were working on a singular project that was looking to be quite large. In time, the room, and the several others just like it...would hold the pieces to a grand game indeed.

But for now, as the Lord looked back at his own assistant, it merely existed as the blueprints on the table.

The rather fantastic looking blueprints. The Lord picked one up, looking it over. The design had a lot more in common then stream-of-consciousness scribbling than the technical style of most other designs of its kind...but that was why she was in his service.

"Going deep down the rabbit hole, Miss Mori?" The Lord said, looking at his assistant...who was not looking at him. Instead she had her face turned towards the table, as she rapidly scribbled down something else. For a moment the Lord was uncertain she'd heard him.

"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir...because I'm not myself you see. Yesterday I...could... but it's no use going back...to yesterday, because I was a different person then." Marissa said, speaking less to the Lord rather than the room, her words faint and slightly ragged, like she was reciting something drilled into her than speaking from the heart.

The fact that she _was_ speaking from her heart would probably deeply disturb most people.

The Lord was not most people: he considered her words, and the dragon-like design her creation was taking, a design that mirrored the gigantic shape that was being constructed in the distance, and had his answer.

"Too true. When one form of fiction fails you, turn to another." The Lord said, as he looked out on the expanses beyond...and beyond all that...all the way to the dead icewastes above him where a terrible storm raged above his grand base, buried deep in the heart of Antarctica. "Let the Titans have their win. Let them think that All Saints Day somehow relates to them."

Darkness glimmered in his eyes, the same darkness he wielded. The same darkness that had commanded the chaos forces this time.

The same darkness that would yet consume the world.

"I prefer Day of the Dead myself." The Lord said. "...and I can play a long game."

And somewhere in the air above, an ill wind began to howl anew.

* * *

"_Congratulations, you are still alive. Most people are so ungrateful to be alive...But not you. Not anymore."_

-John Kramer

_**September 10**__**th**__**-November 1**__**st**__** 2008**_

_**THE (REAL) END**_


End file.
